I'm on the other side...dreaming about food....

Hey y'all! The new and improved lumpy, gassy, leaky me is on the mend. Every day seems to get a little bit better, but I also wonder what the hell I did to myself. The second day in the hospital I had a bad nurse. She ignored my call for an hour and wasn't very friendly. The rest of the staff there was wonderful. I dream about food now. What was the first solid food everyone actually ate? I'm dreaming about scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. Jen...I never saw Dr. G either. My family was disappointed with his 10 second visit with them also. I assume it's because things went well, but I think they should inform you ahead of time that you might not see him again. I'm so happy the surgery is over with, this being at home stuff is getting tedious. I read a book in one day yesterday. My eyes are burning! Take care all, keep me posted. Colleen

Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better. It's completely normal to wonder if you made the right decision so don't beat yourself up abut that. Just look at your friend Kim & you 'll see you made the right choice. She looked realy good. I never would have though she had been large. I believe my first food was cottage cheese & I loved it. I was scared but it went down pretty good. Yogurt was really good & so was scrambled egg but that sometimes can be a challenge at first. Mashed potatoes tasted good but I kept away from them as much as possible as they have little protein & right now it's important that everything you eat has as much protein as possible since you can eat so little. But go ahead & eat it a bit, just not a lot. I hope the situation with Dr G's absence is cleared up. I agree that he needs to check in with his patients while they are hospitalized but maybe they feel having Angie, since she's the PA, stop is enough. They really need to fix that or at least clarify their procedure for the patient. I know that he stopped in to see me each day, as well as right after they moved me to my room. In addition one of his nurses came up (maybe it was Angie, but I don't think she was on staff then) as well as Sherri Greenwood, the co-director. Come to think of it, she might be a good one to e-mail with your concerns. They do need to know you & Jen were not happy & they need to fix things. I think I have her e-mail in my address book if you want it. Just e-mail me & I'll get it to you. The same goes for Jen too, by the way. Sherri gets things done or will at least explain the "whys. Dixie"

Hi Dixie! I actually called Jenny yesterday at Dr. G's office because I was really upset. She was wonderful. I will say something to Angie at my appointment tomorrow. Or Dr. G if I see him. I think that they're just so darn busy now and they try so hard to get everyone in surgery because everyone wants everything done now. I understand. I guess I just expected and I should have asked first. I think it was very nice of Kelly to post what she did on the other board...which reminds me that I have to email her and thank her for that. Thanks so much for being such an awesome guide for me through this journey. I want to stay away from the mashed potatoes too but they're just calling my name!!! We have those Country Crock ready made tubs in our fridge and I think I'll try them sometime but you're right. Sticking with protein is the best way to go. Thus, the egg craze!!! I'm feeling better today and cannot wait to pull this thing out tomorrow. hey, when do you get to take a bath? Tons of love coming at ya chica!!! Jen

Hi everyone! I'm new here although I've been lurking for a few weeks. I will just be going for my information seminar on April 21st at Sartori. I am hoping to have the surgery at the end of June or first of July. I'm trying not to let it worry me that Dr. G doesn't make many appearances while you are in the hospital. I, too, am hoping that it's because the surgery went really well. At least now I won't be surprised if I don't see him I live in Olin, which is about 30 miles east of Cedar Rapids so it's going to be a little bit of a drive for us going back and forth. I chose Sartori because my PCP went to school with Dr. G and also thinks that the aftercare program is excellent at Sartori. My husband is planning to stay in Cedar Falls with me for a few days if he can. He is being really supportive and will take his vacation time to help me at home. Do those of you that have had surgery at Sartori think I'm being unrealistic to hope to get a surgery date by the end of June? Can you tell me what the requirements are for the Sartori program? What tests? I think someone mentioned the 2-week liquid diet before surgery. Anything else? Thanks....can't wait to get to the other side (even if it is painful) Ouch!! Leslie 290/145? (yikes! that's half of me I hope to lose)

Hey Leslie...info about their diet plans and qualifications can be found at: (http://www)obesityhelpiowa.com/qualifications.asp. It all depends on what your insurance company requires. My seminar date was Dec 15 and my surgery date was April 6th, so I'm not sure if they could get you in by June. Make sure you get started with your PCP and get any testing your insurance requires (psych eval, etc...) done right away. He is an excellent surgeon and the staff is very helpful. Just make sure you take your insurance plan to the seminar so you can figure out what they need and fill out the 25 page questionnaire as soon as possible. Good luck! Colleen

Hi Leslie! I'm Jen and I had surgery the same day that Colleen did. Don't worry about not seeing Dr. G. I think when I let them know that it bothered me a little, they might enforce that more. I just know that he is ungodly busy. He is a WONDERFUL surgeon and very intelligent. I'm just more of a people person that needs to be coddled a little..yeah I'm a baby!! Let me give you a quick synopse (sp) of how my surgery went. I started out with Dr. Keating in October of 04. then found out what I needed to do for insurance. I have BCBS Alliance Select. They required a psych evaluation, a sleep study, a list of diets from my PCP, my PCP's recommendation and a certification form that my PCP had to fill out. I did my psch eval on Nov 16th with Dr Wellso in Cedar Rapids. I did my sleep study at the PCI building on Dec 3rd. Meanwhile, Dr Keating no longer could do surgery so I had to find a new doc. Went to Dr. Samuel at the U of I on Dec 16th. They put you on a 3 month waiting period - no fun. Had to go back to do another sleep study to wear a CPAP on Jan 3rd because I did in fact have sleep apnea. So at this point, I'm getting antsy and wasn't impressed with the U's staff or surgeon. I could have avoided this time by just going to Dr. G in the first place but the U was closer as I'm in Cedar Rapids. So I looked into Dr. G. I went to his seminar on Feb 15th. Turned in all paperwork the next day and they called me for an initial consult about 3 days later. I met with Angie on March 1st. She told me that since I had a lot of stuff done already this should be fairly smooth. She did tell me I had to have a gastroscope done ASAP. So I went to Dr. Misra on March 2nd and had my scope done on March 3rd. I got the results to Angie and they got everything together and submitted to insurance on March 3rd. I hated to wait. But on March 8th I was approved! Next step is to get all of your other Pre-Op tests done: Bloodwork, EKG, ultrasound, chest x-ray. Angie set this all up for me at Sartori and it took about 2 hours to complete everything and they sent the results to Dr. G's office. On March 22nd, Jenny called me and said, when do you want to have surgery? WOW! I said 2 weeks please! She said okay start your clear liquids tomorrow (which really does suck) and I'll send you a letter and surgery is on April 6th. I had to have my appointment with Dr. G on April 1st to pay my co-pay and speak to him for a bit. Also had to do Pre-Admission testing that morning. They took more blood, got a urine sample and sent me on my way. So essentially from Feb 15th, the first time that I had met any of them, until April 6th was my wait time. Now I'm done and at home! Angie came in the day of my discharge and she said, "Lady I think you just broke our record of being the quickest to get through!" Their record was previously 2 months from Angie's consult to a surgery date. So I feel very fortunate. It does pay to get a lot of stuff done ahead of time and have all results sent to Dr. G's office. It also pays to have such a wonderful PCP who pretty much said, Just let me know what you need. Hope this helps. By the way, 2 days before surgery, you have to do a bowel prep... and then the next day you take anti-biotics and then the next morning is surgery!!! Hugs, jen

Sorry this is so late, BUT....Welcome Home!!! I am so glad to hear all is well! I know how you feel about wanting food.....I was SO NOT hungry after surgery but all I could think about was food.....it would drive me nuts when the gals at night (nurses) would make microwave popcorn....the smell of the butter made me salivate!!! My first food was S/F butterscotch pudding....and it was heavenly!! I still love the stuff! My first real food was pintos and cheese from Taco Bell They were good too, but I was shocked at how little I could eat!!! It is a bummer to hear about Dr. G and him not visiting you.....I was lucky I guess, my surgeon was in every morning at 6am.....then he would have his residents check on me throughout the day everyday! From what I hear he seems like a great surgeon other than that.....I would mention it to him at your post-op check up.....just casually bring it up that you had expected him to phsically check on you at least once.....maybe he will get the message that it is important!!! I know I needed to feel safe and nothing made me feel better for my surgeon to pop in and say everything looked good or whatnot!!! I know it seems boring to rest, but take advantage of it now....when you start doing stuff you are going to be very surprised at how tired your body gets!! Good luck & Take Care Jesi

Thanks Jesi. I'm starting to enjoy being at home now. I'm having my A/C checked, hot tub maintained, carpets cleaned...all the stuff that's hard to schedule when I'm working. I don't think I'll even see Dr. G on Wednesday, but I will mention his absence to Angie. Thanks for checking in on me! Colleen

Hey buddy o' mine!!! Glad to see you posted here! I also have been dreaming about food!!!! What is the deal? It's weird. Last night it was pizza...pizza, pizza everywhere. I think it's because I saw a Happy Joe's commercial last night. But I also dreamt about those Arby wraps - due, of course, to a commercial. I won't even turn me TV on during the day now!!! I'm craving those Egg Beaters that are sitting in my fridge waiting for next Wednesday!!! Of course, in one week I turn 30. No birthday cake for me! I think we'll do a party in June when I feel tons better. We have a pool and a huge deck so I think that would be more fun. I'm sore today but I slept on my left side last night - Whoo hoo!!!!! I slept better too. I cannot wait to get this darn thing taken out tomorrow!!! I really want to take a hot bath too Ah, relaxing with a book in the tub would be wonderful! Does anyone know when tubs are allowed? I talked to Jenny at the office yesterday because I was really upset about that other boards post. She cleared a lot up for me and I feel so much better!!! Hey, do you get really really hot a little while after you take your pain meds? I experience the sweats and have to have a fan on me...weird huh? I do feel much better when I take them - I just hate having to depend on meds. I cannot wait to be done with all of them and be HEALTHY!!! Can you tell I'm in much better spirits today??? I'm going to see you tomorrow too and that cheers me up! Here's to pulling that darn JP!!! Loves, Jen

Hi Jen, thanks for all the heads up on what to expect. Funny, I tried to get in to see Dr. Keating too but I was told that the seminar was cancelled for last month and that he couldn't take any new clients because they were having trouble with their malpractice insurance due to doing this surgery. No one died or anything, just that their insurance company had some concerns about them performing the surgeries. I knew about Sartori but made the decision to go with them once my PCP recommended them and I found out I probably wouldn't have any problems with my insurance with them. Ok, so are you saying that I can have my PCP get started on doing some of the testing for me now? He is very supportive of me doing this and said he would do whatever needed to be done to help. The website for Sartori says that they will send you the packet in the mail when you call to register for the seminar but when I finally got a hold of a person there, she said that they don't give it out until you go to the seminar. I won't be too worried about not seeing Dr. G after the surgery as long as he does a good job and makes sure that I am taken care of. I need to find out what Wellmark BC/BS requires... anyone know?? Leslie