Obesity Surgery WP Blog

I am 3 days pre-op and getting more and more nervous by the minute. I
have been doing a liquid diet for a couple of weeks now but haven’t
been as faithful as I should have been. How they expect us to scale
our meals down to liquid protein shakes pre-op is unbelievable to me.
But thank God, it’s almost over!
I hate to even type out these numbers but right now I am 5′5″ and 262
pounds. I’ve lost a few pounds in the past two weeks simply by not
really eating much. I have high blood pressure and am borderline
diabetes. I hope to get rid of both of these as my weight drops.
I enjoy reading everyone’s postings in this group and look forward to
post-op support. I feel like I know some of you personally simply by
reading your postings.
I’ll check in again before surgery and of course, after surgery.
Good luck to Joan (…who is probably in the recovery room right
about now.

i was told friday that i can have surgery on the 13 of August. i’m
both happy and scared at the same time.

Just wanted to check in. I had my surgery 6/13 and I’m recovering pretty
much on schedule, I think (and 23 lbs. gone forever!)
I had two minor complications that mhave made the last two weeks a bit
miserable, but I’m thankful that nothing more serious has arisen. First, I
think I
mentioned that I had an allergic reaction to the adhesive in the silk tapes
they covered my incisions with. This got continually worse until the itching
woke me up in the night and I wanted to scratch til I bled. Finally hauled my
butt into a dermatologist and he prescribed some heavy duty cream, and it
cleared up in two days. Don’t delay in seeing a doc if you develop a rash!
The, for the last three days I had a constant pain under the left side of my
ribcage, radiating through to my back. The only thing that brought any relief
was the Vicodin I had left over from the surgery. My doc thought it was
probably muscular, since I had no other symptoms (fever, etc.) Finally I could
stand it no more and went to the ER (my surgeon is in San Deigo, almost three
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I called Dr.Rubin’s office this morning & I got a date of August 27th to go &
see him to see about having something down with my tummy fat? I asked the nurse
if it would be covered by my insurance & she said as long as it hangs down below
my crotch lol well to tell ya the truth I really never checked it out myself I
will wait & see what he says about it she said they take pictures & send them
into the insurance co…not really crazy about that ida but hey you gotta do
what u gotta do, right???
I well let ya all know when I get back home on the 27th what happened… THANKS
for taking the time to read this…
((((((((HUGS)))))))))))
Tammy
10/07/02
346/231/145
86 pounds till goal
wooooohoooooooo

Does anyone out there have BIG PETE’s mailing address to mail a card??? Linda
sent it to me & I stupidly deleted it some how…. & Now I cant send her my card
Does anyone out there have it??? I would greatly appreciate it very much…
THANKS
Tammy

Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking for awhile now. I’m waiting for an
answer on my Appeal for Panniculectomy/Abdom. from BCBS. It’s so
frustrating! But, I continue. I was wondering. I have been on anti-
depressent meds since a year before my surgery. I struggle mostly
with depression around my periods…and if stressed. I was on Celexa
for about 1 1/2 years and then went to Effexor XR 75mg. I can’t take
anything higher than 75mg or I get really sick no matter what, even
with food. But, this is the thing…I feel like they make me… too
even…with no real feelings… I really don’t know what to do. I
just met a new man and finally, a man who accepts me as I am, but I
am nervous because I seem to have lost my “sexual passion energy”…I
guess that’s the best I can say. Do you have to feel so…blah.. on
these? Does anyone have experience with this? I want to be able to
appreciate the passion in my life… but I don’t know if I can. Has
anyone gone from Effexor to something else??? I would appreciate any
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I bought a book and tape through Amazon.com called Prepare for
Surgery, Heal Faster. It came with a tape that helped me go through
the process of deeply relaxing and then visualizing the healing and
outcomes I am hoping for. I found it VERY helpful. The relaxing
part really did relax me and after a few practices I got very good at
picking and visualizing things — the tape gives you a chance to
visualize three different things each time you use it — so I
visualized a successful surgery, my body healing and my body slimming
down. Now that I’m past surgery I am still visualizing healing and
slimming but I’ve added visualizing myself doing some of the things I
haven’t been able to do while MO, like playing frisbee with my kids.
It’s very restful, very positive.
In case you’re not sure this stuff ‘works’, I had a serious knee
injury the month I was supposed to have WLS and I switched to
visualizing healing in my knee. On every occasion I laid down unable
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Hiya again!
I am curious to find some patients that have were 300 plus prior to
surgery to see the amount of weight they lost. I am 368 and I would
like to get to 175 and am curious if that amount of weight loss is
possible with the surgery. You guys are all doing absolutely
wonderful!!! Keep it up!!
God Bless,
Shanna in Oregon
pre-op 368
BMI 61

My 2 year anniversary has come and gone. I had an open distal RNY on
June 28, 2001. I just thought I would stop by and say hello to all of
you newbies and all of you who are thinking about having this surgery.
It has completely changed my life and I would do it again in a
heartbeat. It’s amazing to me to look at my old before pictures. I
can’t believe I was ever that heavy. (If you want to see my hubby and
me before and after surgery, we’re in the photos link under Bill and
Vicki. My life is so busy and so full, I can’t begin to tell you
everything that has changed. My biggest goal when I had my surgery was
to ride my horse again and maybe even show. Well I bought a yearling
that I’m training…he’s two now… and I will be showing him by next
year if things go as planned. I can get on horses without a step
ladder now, I can run up a flight of stairs without even losing my
breath, I am a perfect size 8 (still can’t believe that one every time
I go shopping), I can dance the night away with my husband when we go
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My heart has just sunk to my knees…I just read a note from Jane about her
upcoming surgery and how she must have an open RNY instead of lap because she
had her gallbladder out 23 years ago. Is this always the case? I have an
appointment to see a surgeon on July 22nd…but I have my heart set on doing
this
laproscopically. I have had 28 surgeries already… some of them very long
and difficult. I am petrified at the idea of something as drastic as open RNY
and not sure I will have the nerve to do it if I can’t do it lap.
Am I worrying before I should? Do some people who have had their gallbladder
out (mine was 28 years ago) still get to use the laproscopic method? I know
this will be my doctor’s decision, but if it is a given that I won’t be able
to do it this way I need to start gearing up my nerve.
Also, the thing that has really been bothering me is the hair loss issue. I
had chemo 14 years ago and lost over half of my hair at that time. It didn’t
grow back. I am even seeing thinning that my doctor says is natural, and
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