Gail T.
Surgery's Approaching
Mar 17, 2010
On March 8th I had my pre-op visit with Dr. Sudan, and had pre-op testing at the hospital, Durham Regional. Everyone I dealt with at the hospital was so pleasant and professional. It was my first time there and I was impressed. On Friday the 12th I went to a pre-op group session where a nurse from the hospital told us what we could expect there. We also heard from one of the nutritionists and psychologists. Good, informative handouts covered everything.
Since my surgery's on Friday, I have to start the modified (clear) liquid diet tomorrow (Thursday). Also have to drink a bottle of magnesium citrate to cleanse the bowels. Basically it's the same prep you'd do for a colonoscopy.
Monday I realized that my sniffles were from a sinus infection and I got dizzy whenever I bent over (possible ear infection?). I woke up Tuesday with "pink eye". What fun! Fortunately I was able to see a PCP right away and I'm on Avelox (antibiotic), meclidine (anti-nausea med) and antibiotic eye drops. The PCP thinks I should be fine for surgery on Friday, but I left a message for Dr. Sudan's nurse (who is out of the office today). I hope to hear from her on Thursday morning. Would hate to do the "prep" and not have surgery!!!
I booked a room (actually a suite) for my husband at Durham Tower Condos which is only 2.5 miles from the hospital. This way he can be at my beck and call without staying in the hospital all the time. He hates hospitals. We also plan to stay there the night before the surgery (tomorrow night!) in case they schedule my arrival at the hospital at an unmercifully early hour. I'm not a morning person, so being 2.5 miles from the hospital is better than 40 miles in rush hour traffic.
Now I wait and see what tomorrow brings!
2 comments
Since my surgery's on Friday, I have to start the modified (clear) liquid diet tomorrow (Thursday). Also have to drink a bottle of magnesium citrate to cleanse the bowels. Basically it's the same prep you'd do for a colonoscopy.
Monday I realized that my sniffles were from a sinus infection and I got dizzy whenever I bent over (possible ear infection?). I woke up Tuesday with "pink eye". What fun! Fortunately I was able to see a PCP right away and I'm on Avelox (antibiotic), meclidine (anti-nausea med) and antibiotic eye drops. The PCP thinks I should be fine for surgery on Friday, but I left a message for Dr. Sudan's nurse (who is out of the office today). I hope to hear from her on Thursday morning. Would hate to do the "prep" and not have surgery!!!
I booked a room (actually a suite) for my husband at Durham Tower Condos which is only 2.5 miles from the hospital. This way he can be at my beck and call without staying in the hospital all the time. He hates hospitals. We also plan to stay there the night before the surgery (tomorrow night!) in case they schedule my arrival at the hospital at an unmercifully early hour. I'm not a morning person, so being 2.5 miles from the hospital is better than 40 miles in rush hour traffic.
Now I wait and see what tomorrow brings!
Cleared for Surgery
Feb 19, 2010
I learned last Friday the 12th that I've been cleared for surgery by the nutritionist so the next step is the insurance company. Fingers crossed!
0 comments
Moving Along
Dec 25, 2009
I learned that I needed to see a cardiologist for clearance because there's a bit of an odd blip on my EKG. I'm not worried about it because the same blip was there before my neck surgery in 2000, and I was cleared then. I saw the cardiologist, Dr. Komada, in Durham on Tuesday. He took plenty of time explaining things to me. Since I'm unable to exercise regularly due to foot and knee problems, he wants me to have a nuclear stress test to make sure everything is OK. I'll have to go to his office two days in a row for the test. Just wish it wasn't such a long, boring ride! Someone will call me next week to schedule the test.
My remaining hurdle is clearance from the nutritionist. My atrocious eating habits are compounded by my bizarre sleeping patterns and she wants me to work on improving both. I take being a "night owl" to the extreme. I got overwhelmed trying to improve my eating and sleeping at the same time and was unsuccessful at both. I've decided to concentrate on the sleeping habits first. My goal is to get up around 9 or 10 a.m. every morning regardless of what time I go to bed. So far I've done it four days in a row. I'm lucky that I don't have to go to work. However, that may actually be the cause of my problems. At least the sleeping part. With no work schedule to adhere to, I can do as a please - not always a good thing. Without an enforced schedule, I have no routine. I've always been a night person -- even when I was starting work at 7:30am for 18 years. Mornings were always rough. Now that I don't have to get up early, my bedtime has shifted over the years from 11pm to midnight to 2am and often 4am. I have to admit that I really don't feel good when I stay up after 2am, no matter how much sleep I get. So I have to agree with the nutritionist that my sleeping habits need to be fixed.
I had hoped that I could have my WLS in 2009 because I've met the out-of-pocket limit on my insurance and it would be FREE to me! But the truth is that I'm not ready so 2010 it will be.
I also have books to read that the psychologist recommended. Now that the holidays are over, I can buckle down and get that reading done. I've also been collecting some cookbooks for WLS patients. From Chef Dave Fouts I have Shakin' It Up, Smooth Food, and Soft Food. I also have Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery: Over 140 Delicious Low-Fat, High-Protein Recipes by Patt Levine and Michele Bontempo-Saray which was recommended by the psychologist. It gives you lists for stocking for the pantry and fridge so you'll have all the basics for the recipes on-hand. I like that.
BTW, I get my books through www.paperbackswap.com so all it costs is postage for the books I mail to others. Check it out (and please use me - gailtilt as your referring member if you decide to join).
So that's where I stand. And it's time for bed!
0 comments
My remaining hurdle is clearance from the nutritionist. My atrocious eating habits are compounded by my bizarre sleeping patterns and she wants me to work on improving both. I take being a "night owl" to the extreme. I got overwhelmed trying to improve my eating and sleeping at the same time and was unsuccessful at both. I've decided to concentrate on the sleeping habits first. My goal is to get up around 9 or 10 a.m. every morning regardless of what time I go to bed. So far I've done it four days in a row. I'm lucky that I don't have to go to work. However, that may actually be the cause of my problems. At least the sleeping part. With no work schedule to adhere to, I can do as a please - not always a good thing. Without an enforced schedule, I have no routine. I've always been a night person -- even when I was starting work at 7:30am for 18 years. Mornings were always rough. Now that I don't have to get up early, my bedtime has shifted over the years from 11pm to midnight to 2am and often 4am. I have to admit that I really don't feel good when I stay up after 2am, no matter how much sleep I get. So I have to agree with the nutritionist that my sleeping habits need to be fixed.
I had hoped that I could have my WLS in 2009 because I've met the out-of-pocket limit on my insurance and it would be FREE to me! But the truth is that I'm not ready so 2010 it will be.
I also have books to read that the psychologist recommended. Now that the holidays are over, I can buckle down and get that reading done. I've also been collecting some cookbooks for WLS patients. From Chef Dave Fouts I have Shakin' It Up, Smooth Food, and Soft Food. I also have Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery: Over 140 Delicious Low-Fat, High-Protein Recipes by Patt Levine and Michele Bontempo-Saray which was recommended by the psychologist. It gives you lists for stocking for the pantry and fridge so you'll have all the basics for the recipes on-hand. I like that.
BTW, I get my books through www.paperbackswap.com so all it costs is postage for the books I mail to others. Check it out (and please use me - gailtilt as your referring member if you decide to join).
So that's where I stand. And it's time for bed!
Had My First Appointment
Nov 21, 2009
After I received the call to schedule my first appointment, they had sent me MORE forms to fill out including a psychological test. I read over everything when it came in the mail, but I forgot to fill them out until the day before my appointment. This was probably a good thing in the long run as I'll explain later. However, it took me a couple of hours to fill them out. One thing I did on my own was to start a food & sleep diary three weeks before the appointment. I just made up my own form on an Excel spreadsheet. Because I have an erratic sleeping schedule, I thought I should mark the hours I was sleeping so the odd hours that I ate would be put in context. This was very helpful both for answering some of the questions on the forms and for the meetings with the surgeon, psychologist & nutritionist.
On November 9th I had my first appointment with Dr. Sudan (surgeon), Dr. Applegate (psychologist) and Liz (nutritionist). Everything went very well. There were some delays so I was there about 4 hours instead of two. They were very nice and apologetic about it. Dr. Applegate came to the waiting room to explain it herself and to make sure I could wait. Since my first appointment was supposed to be at 1pm I had not made any other plans for the rest of the day, so I just sat in the waiting room and read. (Tip: Take a good book to read while you wait.) Dr. Sudan was very personable and helpful. He was not rushed and wanted to answer all my questions. Liz told me all about the after-surgery diet and gave me a very good hand-out. We discussed my personal challenges (like eating too fast and not chewing enough). Dr. Applegate asked me many of the questions that were on the "test" I filled out the day before. Since I'd only done the test one day earlier, it was easy to answer consistently. ;-). After the obligatory questions we just chatted about my history. She asked me to explain the surgery I wanted to have, in my case the RNY. They want to know that you are fully-informed and understand what's involved. They drew blood while I was there and ran a lot of blood tests. They asked me to get a chest x-ray and an EKG on my own. (My family doctor did those.) I was told when I made the appointment that they would probably do this so I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor for the day after the Duke appointment. All of my test results are in now and all were normal. Dr. Applegate contacted my regular therapist. Again trying to insure that I'm prepared for the surgery and understand what I'm getting into. Now I’m waiting to hear from them about a surgery date. Believe it or not, I never asked about surgery dates until I saw Dr. Applegate, my last appointment. She said that surgery dates can run two to six months after this first appointment, but they are currently running at about two months. So I’m hoping for a January surgery date. She also told me that submitting to the insurance company is the last thing they do after they have evaluated everything.
0 comments
On November 9th I had my first appointment with Dr. Sudan (surgeon), Dr. Applegate (psychologist) and Liz (nutritionist). Everything went very well. There were some delays so I was there about 4 hours instead of two. They were very nice and apologetic about it. Dr. Applegate came to the waiting room to explain it herself and to make sure I could wait. Since my first appointment was supposed to be at 1pm I had not made any other plans for the rest of the day, so I just sat in the waiting room and read. (Tip: Take a good book to read while you wait.) Dr. Sudan was very personable and helpful. He was not rushed and wanted to answer all my questions. Liz told me all about the after-surgery diet and gave me a very good hand-out. We discussed my personal challenges (like eating too fast and not chewing enough). Dr. Applegate asked me many of the questions that were on the "test" I filled out the day before. Since I'd only done the test one day earlier, it was easy to answer consistently. ;-). After the obligatory questions we just chatted about my history. She asked me to explain the surgery I wanted to have, in my case the RNY. They want to know that you are fully-informed and understand what's involved. They drew blood while I was there and ran a lot of blood tests. They asked me to get a chest x-ray and an EKG on my own. (My family doctor did those.) I was told when I made the appointment that they would probably do this so I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor for the day after the Duke appointment. All of my test results are in now and all were normal. Dr. Applegate contacted my regular therapist. Again trying to insure that I'm prepared for the surgery and understand what I'm getting into. Now I’m waiting to hear from them about a surgery date. Believe it or not, I never asked about surgery dates until I saw Dr. Applegate, my last appointment. She said that surgery dates can run two to six months after this first appointment, but they are currently running at about two months. So I’m hoping for a January surgery date. She also told me that submitting to the insurance company is the last thing they do after they have evaluated everything.
They Called!
Oct 14, 2009
Duke WLS Center called today. I've been assigned to Dr. Ranjan Sudan. I have my first appointment to see him on November 9th. I'll also be seeing the psychologist (Dr. Applegate) and the nutritionist that day. Can't wait!
0 comments
Application Submitted!
Sep 18, 2009
My husband Howard and I attended the WLS seminar at Duke on August 21st. It was excellent! I was leaning toward the band before we went, but with the additional info I got there, I've decided on RNY. Now that I've made a decision that I'm comfortable with, I hope the doctor agrees!
I finally got my application finished today and mailed it off to Duke. They said it may be a month before I hear from them so now I wait.
0 comments
I finally got my application finished today and mailed it off to Duke. They said it may be a month before I hear from them so now I wait.
About Me
Louisburg, NC
Location
26.6
BMI
Surgery
03/19/2010
Surgery Date
Jun 03, 2009
Member Since
