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I will get the worse part over first. I'm 46 years old, 5'10" tall and weigh 487lbs. Whew, thats over with. I have been overweight all my life to one degree or another. Mostly to the higher degree. LOL. And, like most obese people, I have tried all the fad diets, supervised diets, therapy, pills, physician supervised diets, and even hypnosis. None of them have worked for me. Oh yes, I have lost weight and if I would have kept track I have probably lost over a thousand pounds at this point. You know the lose, gain and gain more syndrome. Thats me. I never have been able to break out of that cycle. After I stopped working my health declined rapidly. I ended up with a list of conditions very long, including, hypertension, asthma, diabetes, sleep apnea, chronic edema in my legs, chronic shortness of breath, GERD, gout, arthritis and more. It seemed like everything just happened at once and most were connected to my being overweight. I just didn't know what to do. I wanted to lose weight but had failed at every attempt. So, I went to my doctor and ask for help. She sent me to an endocrinologist who tested me for everything under the sun. He was certain that my weight was endangering my life and told me I would not make it 5 more years if I didn't lose the weight. He said that I was a walking time bomb. He recommended that I see a surgeon for weight loss surgery and a dietician for a diet. I kept the appointment with the dietician and the surgeon. The surgeon I went to told me he would feel better about the surgery if I went to someone who specialized in this type of weight loss surgery. I then had to make an appointment with Dr. Michel Murr. By the time I got to see Dr. Murr for the first time it was April 17, 2000. That appointment went very well and I was told what to expect and what I needed to do before the second appointment. I was scared and nervous and excited and for the first time in a long time felt there was some hope for me. I had to get clearance through the dietician, my pulmonologist, my cardiologist and my personal physician. I also had to see a psychiatrist and get his approval. My second appointment with Dr. Murr was on June 12, 2000. I went armed with questions. He was very kind in answering all of them and took quite some time with me. Now I start another waiting game. I wait longer for approval and hope that I stay well enough to have the surgery. By this time I am mostly homebound, it is too difficult to go anywhere. I can't hardly walk or breath. Just keep praying that I don't die before I get the surgery and get better. When I was least expecting it, on July 18, 2000, I got a call from Dr. Murr's office and was told that my surgery had been approved and that I would have the surgery on August 16, 2000. My date was later moved to August 15, 2000. Now I was very excited. Only four weeks to wait now. I spent most of that time on the computer looking up every fact that I could about the open rny. I found support groups on the internet and joined several. I found the most wonderful friends one could possibly dream of. I have been very blessed with these friends, with the approval of my surgery and with my family who have supported me through all of this. |
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Well I was admitted to Tampa General on August 11, 2000. Much to my surprise I was taken to the most wonderful private room overlooking the city of Tampa. I was started on IV heparin therapy that afternoon. My angel Darcy met me at the hospital and stayed with me a good portion of the day. My sub-angel, Sandi, picked me up and took me the the hospital. The first 4 days were kinda boring because I was only getting the IV and nothing further was going on. I was getting the IV to regulate my blood level, due to the blood clots that I had previously. This was done as a precaution. I had lots of visitors including those in my support group and my family. Then on the fourth day they had me drink this citrate of magnesia for pre-surgery bowel evacuation. Boy, it worked very well. Then I was NPO after midnight for the surgery. The morning of surgery my Mom and my sister JoAnn come to the hospital to wait with me. Finally about 1pm they came and took me to the holding area. There were lots of doctors and nurses around and all were very nice and caring. Dr. Murr stopped in and told me they were waiting for an operating room to open up. When they took me to the operating room I did what Carnie Wilson told me to do. I smiled all they way in. The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room. Everyone was telling me to breath. Dr. Murr was there and said "do I have to stay all night and make sure you keep breathing?" They got my sleep apnea machine and put that on me and they took the binder off my abdomen from the surgery. My oxygen levels were very low and for awhile they considered putting me back on the ventalator again. I ended up in the ICU but not before I spent 36 hours in the recovery room. They didn't have any beds available in the ICU. After 36 hours they sent me to ICU where I spent another 2 1/2 days. During that time, of which I remember very little, I was taken to X-Ray and had a swallowing test done to see if I had any leaks in my new tummy. Thank goodness I didn't. I then was able to start having very small amounts of clear liquids. I was moved to a regular room and the doctor ordered physical therapy for me. I was a bad patient and didn't want to walk, but then I hadn't been walking very much before the surgery. They removed 2 of the drainage tubes that they put in during surgery and left 1 to be removed at my first doctors visit. I remember my first shower after surgery was wonderful and it was from that time forward that I started feeling better and better each day. I spent a total of 14 days in the hospital and was reluctant but happy to be home. |
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