HI! I am new and have a TON of questions!

Hi!  My name is Donna and I live in Topton.  I have my first appointment for Thursday with Dr. Sawyna.  I am super excited and super scared. 

I am 5'3" and weigh 250 pounds. I have been overweight my entire life. My entire family is huge.  I am lucky in that I don't have diabetes or HBP - yet.  My mother and two brothers both have both. My middle brother is an End Stage Renal patient from diabetes and HBP  and takes dialysis 3x a week. 


I have general questions and am not sure if I will be given time at my appointment for them to be answered.  My main thing is I moved here three years ago and I am single. It is just me. I work too much to make any "real" friends.  Can I do this without a support family?  Can I stay by myself after the surgery?  How soon can I drive?  I don't even have anyone to drive me home from the hospital..lol 

Sorry for all the questions....my impatience is already flaring up!  :)

Thanks!

Welcome Donna to the PA board,

     My name is Donna also and I am almost 3 years out from a laprascopic RNY.  You are a very courageous woman.  I was 255 lbs when I began this journey and I am about your height.  Presently I weigh 172 lbs.  My lowest weight was 148 (for about 2 minutes).  This past year I have gained about 30 pounds but am working on reversing that.  Lots of problems this year with unemployment etc.

     Support is critical to WLS.  I attend support group meetings at Barix Clinic in Langhorne, PA.  That is also where I had my surgery in June of 2010.  I also try to utilize this board.  I mostly read here but am making more of an effort to contribute to the different message topics.

     I drove myself in for my surgery but I was not permitted to drive myself home.  As far as I know this is pretty standard.  I was in the hospital for 3 days due to a slight problem but most RNY patients at Barix stay 2 nights in the hospital.  Where will you be having your surgery performed?  I was able to drive in less than a week after surgery.  I did not have any complications. 

     Don't know if any of this is helpful but feel free to ask any questions you need to.  The people on this board are really great and have been a great help in my successing.  Take good care of yourself.

Donna

Donna,

Congrats on your decision to make life altering changes. 

I'm Laureen and I am 4.5 years post-op, also a Barix Clinics' baby and I am one of the support group facilitators there, taking my experience and trying to help others, along with myself, through accountability and celebrating the new life WLS has given me. 

Support, as you go along this process, is a key component to longterm successing, however, ultimately it will be about you and your choices and whether you are mostly compliant with the rules of whatever surgery you are having.  You can get support here, as there are quite a number of people from pre- to long-term post-ops and we're a pretty friendly bunch on here.

You will at least need someone who can drive you home and check in on you the first week post-op.  Write down a list of questions for your consult and they should have a question and answer time, remember being proactive before surgery, via questions, gathering of information on the different procedures available and what they entail post-op is a good thing and will take you a long way. 

I wish you well and please come back and let us know how it goes, ask questions and we'll try, based on personal experiences, to give you information.

Laureen

Thank you so much for your help and knowledge.  I have lurked on here for a while and realize that support will help me more than hinder me. 

I work nights so that in itself doesn't help as far as attending support groups, etc.  But, it is a long way off.  I am not going to say that oh I can do it by myself.  I know I will need support and guidance.   I lurk here and read and just reading empowers me daily. 

Hi there -

I too have been pretty stable at about 250-260 for almost a year and I'm also 5'3".  I also have been heavy my whole life but I'm riddled with health issues related to my weight.  Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, back pain, infertility, skin problems, sleep apnea and the list goes on.  I have 100 more reasons for doing this surgery than for not. 

I would hope that they would set up enough time at your appt to answer any questions you should have.  Just be sure to make a list and take it with you so you don't forget.  This is your life, and you have the right to ask as many questions as you want. 

I'm sorry you don't live closer; I feel bad that you're going to be alone.  As for support, this website is awesome and if you are looking to do the RNY I would visit the RNY forum.  It's got much more traffic and you can make a post asking about support groups in your area... you will need people to talk to and relate with.

I've not had my surgery yet but everyone keeps telling me it's not near as bad as they anticipated it being.  I'm told that plastic surgery and having a c-section are much more painful, lol.... this keeps me optimistic :)

Best of luck to you!!!

I had my appointment on Thursday and I got a lot of answers.  I have talked to a couple of friends who said they would drive me and take me home so hopefully that pans out. 

The doctor was very patient and listened to me.  My biggest issue is I work second shift and  all the support groups meet at night. He said that he and his staff would be my support group  so that made me feel better.  We can't do the band as my work is too physical and is basically not a choice. He wants to do the sleeve but I don't think my insurance will cover it with my BMI.  So the RNY will probably be my choice.

There are a few more issues that I ran by him and he is going to do some research and have some answers for me when I go back the end of this month.  They psycologist?  called today to make an appointment but I was at work and couldn't take the call. 

I am not as scared....just wi**** was over and done with. I have a six month waiting period so hopefully it will go fast.

Thanks to everyone that has given me support and answers on here.  I do appreciate it!

 Hi Donna.. sorry I didn't chime in sooner, but my life is pretty chaotic.  I live in Whitehall so I am not too far from you.  Dr. Sawyna did my surgery on 2/23/09. I don't want to tell you what to do, but I do want to share my experiences with my surgery so you have some things to think about.  

I am 5'2" and started around 250, as well.  I did not have any co-morbidites except high cholesterol, when I had my surgery.  

Dr. Sawyna is a great surgeon and has great pre-op care.  Personally, after dealing with him, his office and the outside psych,dietitian, and other specialists, I later found out that other hospitals have all of the necessary support staff on their own staff instead of sending the patients out.  I found it to be a big hassle and not enough collaboration/coordination between all of the outside people and his office.  His pre-op and new post op support is also great.  When I was still going to him, I did not like the support group once I hit about a year out.  I felt it was focused mainly on pre-ops and new post ops.  I didn't feel like enough focus was spent on those of us further out who may be struggling.  It was more of a "don't tell the new people that something can go wrong/get harder/be different" .   This may have changed since I stopped going there.  

Again, I don't want you to make your decision based on my experience.  I just wanted you to know what I experienced.  I have since switched to St. Luke's.  I have not gone to a support group, yet. But, have already found the doctors and ONSITE support staff to be more personable and helpful than what I got out of Westfield.  

I wish you much luck on your journey.  Like I said, I'm in Whitehall, so if you want to hook up, I can try to do that.  I am pretty busy with 2 jobs and being a single mom, but I'll do what I can to help you out. 

Lisa

Hi Lisa - You are not that far from me..about 15 miles.  I can totally understand that you life is hectic.  Thanks for taking the time to write me and I do appreciate you wisdom.  I had talked to St. Lukes when I started thinking about this but they require that I attend Support Group before the surgery.  Like I said, I work at night and there is no way I can get off.  I have only been on my job about 8 months and had to take a week off to fly out of state for a death in my family and am afraid to ask for too much time off yet.  Yes, the going to different doctors is a hassle.

I am off on weekends so if you ever want to hook up - send me a message and I will send you my cell number.  I know it is very hard being a single mom so I am open to times and places.