Surgery

Two weeks ago today I was in surgery. It is crazy how quickly the last two weeka have gone, but it seems to have balanced out how slowly the week leading up to surgery went.

I arrived at the hospital at 9am for an 11 am surgery time. Once I completed check in and received my ID bracelet we waited int he waiting room for the nurse to take me back to preop. The preop process involved getting into the gown, having some blood drawn, urine sample, talking to the anesthetic nurse, the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. After I was all settled, they had Tim come back to keep me company. They gave me a mild sedative and I was wheeled back into the operating room. I hopped over to the table and once I laid down, I was out. The next thing I was aware of was just some chaos around me in the recovery room. People checking things and taking of masks, IVs and such. The took me up to my room and Tim was waiting.

The rest of the day just floated in and out, lots of morphine hits (they put you on a pain pump), frequent blood pressure, temp and heart rate tests. They also had massaging leg cuffs on me to keep my circulation going to prevent blood clots. Towards the end of the day, I walked around the floor once to make sure to keep things active and moving. That night was okay- nothing compared to night two! (more on that below). I was in and out most of the night because every hour they come in to either take a measurement, draw blood or whatever. Tim went home around 8 because I was falling asleep on the phone talking to everyone. I didn't want him to stay since there were plenty of other people keeping an eye on me.


I was up around 7 am on day two. I felt pretty good and got up to walk around the floor as soon as Tim arrived. They took me off the leg massage machine and I spent a good chunk of the day in the chair instead of in bed. I also was able to wash my hair in the ink- heaven! I started having some trouble with not producing enough urine (sorry if that is TMI) so they gave me a diuretic and two double doses of fluid (the IV drips twice as fast). Even after that I was still low. The catheter was only working if I stood up, so it made me walk a lot more than I might have. Tim went home at around 8 and I went straight to bed. At about 1am I woke up having to pee the worst I have EVER HAD TO PEE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE! Which was weird since I had a catheter in. Long story shot, the catheter had stopped working for some unknown reason. The nurse took pity on me and removed it since we hadn't heard back from my surgeon yet.

It was the best pee ever.

The doctor later told me he had only seen that happen twice in his career. Leave it me to have a difficult bladder.

Anyways, the rest of the night went by great since I wasn't in pain anymore. At 6am the doctor/surgeon came to see me and said I was all set to go! By 9:30 we were checked out and one the way home.

Easy?

In my first post I mentioned how I had always regarded surgery as the easy way out and how once I had learned more about it, nothing could be further from the truth. I wanted to explain...

I always thought that if you had surgery you just had to eat smaller portions, but could eat whatever you wanted.

Right.

Once you decide to have surgery, you have to go through a TON of stuff to make sure you are mentally and physically prepared for the changes that await you. Sleep study, blood work (lots of blood work), endoscopy, psych evaluations, support meetings, nutritionist meetings, exercise consultations, EKG, a two week liquid diet to shrink your liver in preparation for surgery and the list goes on. That doesn't even necessarily include the work you have to do for insurance approval! Documentation of weights for previous years, supervised weight loss programs, and documentation of previous weight loss attempts.

Now, let's look at the work you have to do mentally to prepare for life after surgery. As anyone who has researched surgery knows, everyone will tell you that the surgery is only a tool...that the work and success is completely dependant upon you. Sure, most people will loose weight afterwards, but to lose it all and KEEP IT OFF, you have to work hard. I will be on vitamin supplements for the rest of my life. I may not be able to tolerate dairy or sugar ever again. I will have to weight and measure my foods to make sure that they are not going to stretch out my stomach. I will have to make sure that I eat my protein first since this is what will sustain my body...and since I will only be able to eat a few tablespoons at a time (at least in the beginning), I have to make sure every bite counts. This surgery will force me to completely change how I look and treat food.

So, why do this? Why not just lose weight the "old fashioned" way? That is an important question. In fact, it was the question most of my friends and family asked me. The truth is, I have been fat since I was young. I have tried most diets that you can think of and although some were successful at first, I would gain back the weight plus some. I realized that I could not do this alone. I needed help.

Food is like any other addiction and the first step is to realize you are powerless over it.

APPROVED!

I found out that I have been approved for the surgery. After some VERY annoying interactions with my insurance contact at the doctor's I finally pressured them into submitting the paperwork and it was approved about a week later.
This is big.

Status

I found out something interesting a few months back. I had to call my insurance company about something related to my sleep study and decided I would ask them to clarify the requirements for weight loss surgery. After speaking to a few people, it seemed clear that there was no 5 month supervised weight loss requirement.
So, I called my surgeon's office and told them what they said. Long story short, my documentation was sent over last week to my insurance provider for approval....instead of having to wait until May. It is only a bit early but every days counts!
The insurance contact at the surgeon's office said it could be 4 weeks until we hear back about an approval.
I am hoping for an approval...instead of having to go back and forth a few times.

Prep.

Here is a list of what I have to do in order to even submit for insurance approval:

• 6 months of a medically supervised program
• Sleep Study
• Endoscopy
• Nutritionist Appointment
• Psychiatric Assessment
• Attend at least one surgical support group meeting

Here is what I have completed:

• 3 months of a medically supervised program
• Endoscopy
• Psychiatric Assessment