New to the Forums - In desperate need of weight loss surgery.

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself to all of you, and let you know a little bit about myself, and why I'm here.

My name is Ashley, and I live in Bountiful, UT.  I am 26 years old, 5'6" tall and weigh nearly 300 lbs.  I've never been skinny by any means, but up until I was about 12 years old I was relatively healthy, and within a healthy range of weight.

When I was around 12 years old, I started having severe back pain.  Due to this, and exercise-induced Asthma, my activity level was low.  I slowly started gaining weight.  When I was 14 years old I was diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spondylolisthesis) which the doctors think that, in my case, is genetic.  For almost three years I tried various therapies to relieve the pain which the Spondylolisthesis caused me.  After trying back braces, physical therapy, pain medication, and everything else the doctors could think of, we finally decided to go the route of surgery.

About a month before my 17th birthday I had the first of my back surgeries. The surgeon went in and repaired the broken vertebre with two large screws; essentially screwing the bones back together.  The surgery went seemingly well, and two weeks later I was sent home.  The same night I was back in the hospital under emergency care.  I had contracted an infection in the wound in my back that required the surgeons to go back in, remove the hardware they had put in, debride the area, and redo the entire first surgery again.  After a few more weeks in the hospital, I was well enough to go home again.  But that was not the end of my ordeal, which was only just beginning.  

After the two surgeries, I was on bed rest for about 6 months.  After that for another 6 months I was limited in my activities and couldn't do much of anything.  I didn't have much mobility, and could do basically zero physical activities for the first year after the surgery.  During that time I increasingly put on more and more weight.  I ate a normal diet for someone my age, but with no physical activity, and a genetic predisposition for obesity, I gained weight steadily.  The weight gain only added to my ever poorer self-image (I had almost always suffered from depression and low self-esteem), but after the first year, things started getting better.  My back pain was all but gone, and I could do pretty much anything I wanted to do.  I went in for regular check-ups with my surgeons, and always received a clean bill of health for the first two years. 

When I was about 19 years old, I started having back pain again.  For the next year or so the pain got increasingly worse.  My already limited physical activity dropped again, and I continued to gain weight.  By this time I was up to about 220 lbs. 

Then my cousin (about 16 years old at the time) was diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis, and had spinal fusion surgery done by a world-renown surgeon named Dr. Braun, at the University of Utah.  Her and her parents had talked with her doctors about my own condition, which is what led them to believe that in both of our cases the Spondylolisthesis  was due to a genetic disorder.  The doctor also informed them that spinal surgeons no longer performed the surgery that my surgeons had performed on me, because almost 100% of the time the patients end up having to have spinal fusion surgery eventually.

By this time it was 2004, and I was 22 years old.  I was in more pain than I had ever been in, so much so that I couldn't work, and no matter how much pain medication I took, the pain never got much better.  After hearing about how well my cousins surgery went for her, and about how good Dr. Braun was, I decided to go in for a consultation with Dr. Braun.  I went through all of the tests that Dr. Braun requires his patients to go through, and then finally met with Dr. Braun.  What Dr. Braun had to say about my condition was very dire indeed. 

It turns out that the vertebrae above and below the one with the original Spondylolisthesis defect had been weakened.  On all three vertebrae bone spurs had developed, as well as severe arthritis.  If that wasn't bad enough, the bones themselves were weakening and basically disintegrating.  Dr. Braun said that he was not surprised by my obesity, and was frankly surprised that I could get around as much as I did, and that I wasn't more obese than I was.  He recommended that I go in for surgery immediately to remove the old hardware and to fuse the three bad vertebrae together (spinal fusion surgery.) 

I was so relieved to hear that the pain I was feeling wasn't psychosomatic, and that my obesity wasn't my fault.  I literally sobbed with relief, and hope, after Dr. Braun left the room after our consultation.  I felt like maybe I was finally going to have some relief from pain, but not only that, that after the surgery, I would be able to be active enough to lose the weight I had gained.

In March of 2005 I checked into the University of Utah surgical center and had spinal surgery once again.  Unfortunately there were once again complications.  As it turned out, one of the screws from my original surgery had punctured the dural sack (the membrane surrounding the spinal nerves) and that some of the nerves had started growing around the screw itself.  It took Dr. Braun over 4 hours to remove that one screw alone.  After the surgery, I spent a few weeks in the hospital.  Due to my previous bout with infection after my first spinal surgery, the doctors watched me closely for signs of infection.  Unfortunately all of our worst fears came true, and I came down with another severe infection.  If that weren't bad enough, I started showing signs of severe nerve damage in my legs.  Finally the surgeons decided that they needed to go back in and re-do the surgery.  So I went into surgery again where the doctors removed the original hardware, debrided the area, installed new hardware as well as new cadaver paste (paste made from the bones of deceased persons, which grows when placed on bones inside a living human body.) 

After the surgery they put me on heavy doses of intravenous antibiotics via a pic line which was put into my artery just above my elbow and ran a small tube from that incision directly to my heart.  After only a few days, the incision where they had inserted the pic line was infected and had to be removed, and placed in my other arm.  

After another week or so, I was finally well enough to return home.  But I required 24-hour care.  I couldn't do anything on my own, even small things like going to the bathroom required the help of my mother, who had to take a leave of absence from her job to take care of me.  I also had to have a nurse come to my home once a day to take care of the IV line which was still connected to me.  Needless to say, it was pretty miserable for me and my family.  Eventually the company my mom worked for fired her for taking so much time off (legally she was allowed to do so, and she could have sued them for wrongful termination, but that would have taken a lot of time, effort, and money that none of us had.) 

The whole thing took a huge toll on my body.  Because of the antibiotics as well as the general anesthetic I had to be under for so long, I started losing my hair, and got acne which I hadn't had since I was a teenager.  My hair eventually grew back, but I still have the acne from it.  I also had severe nerve damage in my legs.  Dr. Braun said that it could go away, and that we wouldn't know if it was permanent unless it lasted over a year or two.  It did, and only got worse.  After about 9 months of bed rest I slowly started being able to do a bit of physical therapy.  It helped get most of my mobility back, but I'm a lot weaker than I used to be due to the nerve damage.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, the bills from the surgeries started rolling in as well.  All said and done, the bills added up to nearly a million dollars.  Thankfully I had insurance, but I was still responsible for 20% of the bill.  That's $200,000.  I haven't ever been able to hold a steady job because of my disabilities, and I didn't have anywhere close to the amount of money I needed to pay off the medical bills.  But during the summer while she was caring for me, my amazing mother spent hours on the phone with various financial officers of the doctors, hospitals, and other medical service providers.  After she was done, she had gotten most of the bills written off (most of the companies were willing to write of my portion of the bill due to my disabilities and inability to work.)  My final bills came down to about $2,000. 

As for my previous surgeries when I was 17 years old, the reason I didn't have doctors bills then was because I was blessed enough to have been accepted by Shriner's children's hospital (http://www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals/Main/), which helps disabled children with musculoskeletal disorders at no cost to the patients or their families.  They're an amazing organization, and if you ever want to donate to a charity, Shriner's is definitely a worthy one. 

Anyway, around a year after the surgery I was finally pretty much back to normal.  My back pain was much better, and I was doing okay.  Unfortunately that only lasted for about another year, and then the pain came back, and worse than ever.  By then I couldn't work anymore, and could rarely leave the house due to the pain.  My depression worsened, as did my health.  My nerve damage continues to cause pain in my legs, in addition to the extreme pain I always have in my back. 

It's been almost four years since my last surgery, and I basically live hour-to-hour, spacing out bouts of extreme pain with a little relief in between with the massive amounts of painkillers I've been prescribed.  About a year and a half ago I finally started going to therapy at LDS Family Services, and that's helped a lot.  It's helped me to be able to cope with the pain, as well as the emotional pain that I have to deal with due to my physical conditions.

One of the hardest things to deal with is my weight.  I weigh about 280-290 now, I have a BMI of 46, and am morbidly obese.  I have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic and my doctor says I'll have diabetes within 2-3 years if I don't lose a substantial amount of weight. 

The worst part about being so obese is the extra pain it adds to my back.  If I didn't have so much extra weight to carry around, who knows how much pain would be alleviated.  It's rather ironic that in order to lose weight I need to exercise, but in order to exercise I need to alleviate my back pain, but to alleviate my back pain I need to lose weight.  It's a vicious circle that I can't break, no matter how hard I try. 

Several years ago I had decided that I wouldn't have weight loss surgery.  I've known a few people that have had the surgery, and have had some terrible complications with it.  One of my friends mothers even died due to cancer that the doctors think was a result of her gastric bypass.

But the longer I've suffered because of my obesity, the more I knew I couldn't lose the weight on my own, and had to take whatever steps necessary to lose the weight.  I started reading up on weight loss surgery, and found that most of my friends that had complications after having the surgery had the complications because they did not follow the guidelines and lifestyle changes that are pertinent to successful outcomes of weight loss surgery.  After doing much reading, watching documentaries and tv programs on the subject of weight loss surgery, I decided that it was right for me. 

In January of 2008 I started researching the different doctors in Utah that offered weight loss surgery.  I went to the seminar offered at the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center (http://www.saltlakeregional.com/services/weight_loss_surgery/).  I was in the process of getting approved by my insurance company (I had insurance through my mom because I'm disabled), when they told me that I was no longer covered under that insurance.  My hopes were crushed.  I felt like my only hope of ever leading a normal life was being taken away from me, because I knew neither myself nor my family could ever afford to pay for the surgery without insurance.  But I was determined not to give up.  My mom and I fought tooth and nail with the insurance company about getting me covered under my mom's insurance policy.  Finally after getting proof of my disabilities (both mental and physical) from my doctor as well as my therapist, in the summer of 2008 they finally approved me to be back on my mom's insurance. 

So now I'm back to researching the doctors and hospitals in Utah that offer weight loss surgery options.  It's sometimes hard to do because I'm in such severe pain that I often can't even get out of bed.  That and suffering from depression and ADD in addition to the pain medication which makes my mind "fuzzy", it's often really hard for me to focus, and get things done. 

But I'm determined to do this thing for myself.  I know that without it I have no hope of leading any kind of a normal life.  I could continue to have one spinal surgery after another, but I know that if I don't lose the weight, that my back won't get better and be able to heal as it should. 

So that's why I'm here, why I've joined these forums.  Having weight loss surgery is a big decision, and one that I haven't entered into lightly.  I want to make sure that I've researched all of my options, and that I find the right doctor and hospital for me.  I also need to find ways of getting support from medical professionals as well as others who have had weight loss surgery or are thinking about having it.  I hope to find that from all of you.  I know that everyone needs moral support from others when going through life-changing events, and I know I need that support.  I also know that I can offer that support to others as well. 

Anyway, I've gone on and on (I tend to be long-winded).  If you've read this much, I'm impressed, and appreciative that you care enough to do so.  I hope to get to know you guys better and hope that we can help each other on this journey to weight loss and healthy living. 

Kindest Regards,
Ashley

Hey Ashley,I also live in Utah,Provo I went through Dr.Christina Richards, through Salt lake regional, she is a wonderful doctor and it has been a little over 7 months since my surgery and I have lost 117 lbs (had the RNY) I am soooo grateful for my surgery best thing I ever did for myself, and family too! I just wanted to wish you goo luck on your journey!! Jenn 

Dear Jenn,

Thank you so much for your reply!  I'm glad to hear that the results of your surgery have gone so well for you! 

Dr. Christina Richards is one of the doctors that I'm considering to perform my surgery.  What did you like about her?  What didn't you like?  What did you like and dislike about the hospital, follow-up programs, etc?  

Thanks for your help! 

Regards,
Ashley

Hi Ashley, I loved everything about Dr.Christina Richards,her attitude,her bedside manner, her office staff is the BEST and over all just everything! Now as for the hospital......yuck not so much the hospital it self the staff was not that great I remember I had to got potty and had trouble getting them to come help me several times so was NOT impressed w/ the staff @ the hospital, but I would do it over in a heart beat! Follow up programs just keep up w/ them like I said you will LOVE her staff the Nutritionist is wonderful! I am so excited for you, it is a great journey to endure! Take care, Jenn