Has anyone went through UMASS Worcester?
Hi marlene. I did go through the Umass program. Bothme and my mother started the journey together. I am now 11 1/2 weeks out and my start weight was 278, I am down to 230 now. 48lbs in 3 months. I honestly do not exercise so I am sure when I start my routine that I will lose faster. I plan to be at goal or very near goal by January or February. My goal is 175. 55 pounds away.
Dr. Kelly's program is very good. I started my process back in August of 2004 and attended the two required informational meetings, had my initial consult with dr.Gitkind then my appt's. with Jenny in nutrition and Marjorie in behavioral med. and had two more required meetings with behavioral and nutrition again before attending the behavioral eating group for the month of January. Then i saw Nutrition again and had a surgical consult with dr. Czerniach. (i chose to take the next available surgeon) and applied for insurance approval April 3rd and had approval by April 15th. It was a long process but it was worth it. And it was also longer for me because my mother and I had our appt's on the same day, so we had to synchronize our schedulles and whatever dates where there were two back to back appt's available. My surgery day was set for July 18th. A month after my 22nd birthday. Surgery was great. Recovery was not as bad as i expected. Recovering from an open csection cyst removal was more painful. I went in on a Monday and was out on Wed. I had no complications at all. It was quite the adventure and I had fun. If you have an questions at all feel free to email me!! Good luck and best wishes!!
Niesha
285/278/230/175
.............^........
Hi Marlene, I have been going to Umass since last November. I am going to meet the sugeon on Tuesday the 11th. I went through the whole process and I had a wonderful experence so far. The class and the dr.'s are all great. The groups I attended have helped me alot. At first I thought it was alot and very time consuming. But it was worth it. I have met alot of nice people. Everone there is very supportive. Good luck. Sherry
My mom started going there and absolutely hated it! She is a smart, educated woman, a nurse practitioner, so she is familiar with medical terms, and she said she found them to be condescending and the process was very slow. She said she is not going to put up with 20-somethings talking down to her. Furthermore, even though her BMI is 36, and she has high blood pressure and has had a stroke, they told her that she was not fat enough and told her they would probably not accept her in the program, but still wanted her to go to the psych evaluation and nutritionist, and she said she did not care for them, either. I went to Boston, had a consult with the surgeon and got an appointment the same day. I did not have to jump through any hoops or do 1,000 tests for problems I don't have. From the day of my consult to surgery was 2 months, and I am thrilled about the care I received and the entire process (although driving to Boston i**** or miss, sometimes 1 hour, sometimes 4 depending on the time of day). I have lost 63 pounds in 2 months. I know a lot of people are very happy with UMASS, so I suspect it is highly individual. I think everyone has to find the right surgeon for them, and maybe for you it is Dr. Kelly.
Good luck with whoever you choose!
Carrie
If people going through this process that think Umass program is too slow than I think they need to reconsider having surgery. I for one was disappointed at the long process at first. but the only reason it is so long is because it is the most educational and patient oriented program in Massachusetts. They thoroughly screen their patients for any mental disease, nutritional problems and deficiencies and sleep apnea. I think that Hospitals that do not take these steps to ensure their patients safety are neglegent and do not truly care about the success rate nor their patients. I too looked into Dr.s from the Boston area. I attended Meetings at two Boston hospitals and the one at Umass and afterward I felt that Umass was alot more competant than the one's in Boston. I guess it is personal experiance, but A hospital cannot rush someone through a process like this and have no complications. People die when things like that happen. I personally know someone that had surgery and died as a result because the process was 3 months long, she wasnt required to attend a behavioral eating group, not required to lose weight preop and the Hospital did NOT request medical records or follow up with her primary. Had they done so they would have known about the problem wiht her kidneys. Also had they done more bloodwork they would have seent he problem there as well. Needless to say she did die shortly after surgery. While all the technology is in the Boston are, all the Brains are not. I am not knocking the hospitals at all, just there process. They tend to tread to lightly on this issue and that is why there have been deaths...There havenot been any at Umass in 4 years. I chose Umass because I wanted to change. I wanted to change how I thought about food, how I ate my food and how I felt after I ate it. I wantd to understand why i ate when i ate and how come i ate so much. Umass was the only place that could offer me that understanding. This is jusy MHO(my honest opinion). I do not think I would have taken the process and recovery as serious if I went anywhere else. But hopefully that will be changing as a few of Umass Behavioral med staff are moving to revamp a certain Boston Hospital. Hopefully they will all be like Umass in the future.
Niesha
285/278/230/175
.............^........
Niesha,
Everyone has different reasons and different needs for this surgery. Some of us need a lot of support, but many of us do not need someone to hold our hands start to finish. I believe that responsible, capable, educated adults can make decisions for themselves and do the appropriate research without someone shoving it down their throats. This decisions is up to the patient, not the surgeon, and, ultimately, we all have to make decisions for ourselves. It is also our responsibilty to tell our surgeon if we have any health issues. You know that questionnaire they give you at the surgeon's office? You are supposed to answer honestly about any issues you may have. If you are not forthcoming with your medical history, you cannot blame the surgeon if something goes wrong.
As far as no one dying who has gone through the UMASS program, that is completely untrue. Just because no one has died on the table or some people have lived long enough to be discharged from the hospital does not mean that they did not die as a direct result of WLS at UMASS. There was a women this summer from Gardner who had WLS at UMASS, had lots of complications, was transferred to a rehab hospital, but never recovered and died a couple months later. That is a WLS-related death. And she is no the only one. No program has a 100% success rate with 0 complications.
What I am saying is that we all have to make our own choices about what we want and what is important. I am a single mother. I knew when I decided to havbe WLS in May that it had to be in the summer. I work full-time to support my kids. I cannot be running back in forth to go for tests I do not need and nutrition appointments I have no interest in (I can read the list of recommended foods and amounts). How long do you think a person could keep a job, realistically, by taking half a day off every week for doctor's appointments? This was my choice. I am not saying I am right and everyone else is wrong, but it was right for me, and I am very happy.
Carrie
Of course the decision to have surgery is up to the patient, I was not saying that it wasnt. I am simply stating the facts about failure. Yes the hospital and surgeon choice is up to the patient, but i think it is only logical that a person pursuing surgery know about all the programs. The few people I have talked to who decided against Umass did so because of the lengthy process involved. If a person is not willing to change their nutritional habits then surgery is null and void and will eventually catch up with them and bite them in their ass. I have seen it happen. I believe very determined strong willed individuals can complete a shorter process without the nutrition programs and behavioral portions. But the reason most of us are having or have had surgery was to change the way we eat, change the way we think about food and understand the underlying issues involved with the overeating. Maybe it is just me, but that is a very logical approach. Maybe is i werent going for my Psych degree I wouldnt be so into the human thought process, but it just makes sense to me. I think dealing with the "fat" issue and having surgery is one part, but you can't "fix" that part without knowing they why and the how. If surgery was convieniant for you, great. It wasnt convientient for me, but i managed. Kept my job and went back a week later. I knew when I started that it would be lengthy and I started last August/Sept and I was told it could take 6 months to a year. I planned on a summer surgery, and I got it. If people choose other hospitals because of the "convienance" so be it, it is their decision. And the lady who lived in Gardner, Joan or what not, was NOT WLS related. Im not sure if this was the same lady your talking about but she died a few days after surgery due to kidney or liver failure that she knew about and did not tell the doctors about. That brings me to my next point. A lady I met at a Beth Israel, MaryEllen, god bless her heart, filled out that questionaire and it asked if she had sleep apnea, she said she did not know....They never ran tests to see if she did, given her weight and co-morbities it was an absolute possibility, well she went into cardiac arrest on the table after surgery when they tried to wake her. She did not die, thank the lord. What i am trying to say is Umass doesnt even question it. They may seem like rediculous tests to run, but when your life is at jepordy, a smart person wouldnt question it. Thank god they did do a test on my Mom, she said no on the questionaire but Umass knew better and took all precautions to make sure surgery would go as planned. Anyway Im going to end this convo because Hospital choice is a personal decision none the less wether based on realistic or unrealistic goals, I respect that decision By the way for anyone else who wants to know about the great Educational benefits ot Umass feel free to email me!!
Niesha
285/278/230/175
.............^........
PS:Beth Israel and Newton Welsley have attended the last two Umass info meetings and some of Umass behavioral med staff will be going there to implement their program into the hospitals Weight centers. I beleiev that success comes from all parts of the spectrum, The patient, The Hospital, The education and the surgeon.
Most Active
Recent Topics
