Utahn Introductions
Just wanted to say that it's great to see more Utahns posting on the Utah board! I knew there were more of us out there, but thought we must be a shy bunch 
Maybe we can do an introduction of ourselves.
I am Maria, I was born and raised here in Salt Lake. I work for Intermountain Healthcare, and have done so for nearly 25 years. I am a "Voice Analyst", which means that I adminster our telephone system for a hospital. I am single, and have a dog (Ty) and 2 cats (Midget and Molly). I love movies and doing digital scrapbooking. I enjoy watching 24 and Lost, on tv.
I have been overweight since the age of 8 and clinically obese since around 12/13. I have yo-yo's a great deal through diet attempts, etc. The lowest weight as an adult, though, was 218, which I weighed for half a minute doing Phen/Fen. I not so gracefully gained all the weight lost from the episode in record time, with a few more pounds to boot.
I am hoping and praying to have WLS this year (spring or summer if at all possible). I have chosen to pursue the Duodenal Switch, after hours and hours and hours of research (over the past 3 months) I feel it is the best surgical choice for me, for many reasons, mostly because it is something I know that I can live with and excel with. I just wish the red-tape stuff moved faster.
Anyhoo, that is a bit about me, please join me in introducing yourselves!
Maybe we can do an introduction of ourselves.I am Maria, I was born and raised here in Salt Lake. I work for Intermountain Healthcare, and have done so for nearly 25 years. I am a "Voice Analyst", which means that I adminster our telephone system for a hospital. I am single, and have a dog (Ty) and 2 cats (Midget and Molly). I love movies and doing digital scrapbooking. I enjoy watching 24 and Lost, on tv.
I have been overweight since the age of 8 and clinically obese since around 12/13. I have yo-yo's a great deal through diet attempts, etc. The lowest weight as an adult, though, was 218, which I weighed for half a minute doing Phen/Fen. I not so gracefully gained all the weight lost from the episode in record time, with a few more pounds to boot.
I am hoping and praying to have WLS this year (spring or summer if at all possible). I have chosen to pursue the Duodenal Switch, after hours and hours and hours of research (over the past 3 months) I feel it is the best surgical choice for me, for many reasons, mostly because it is something I know that I can live with and excel with. I just wish the red-tape stuff moved faster.
Anyhoo, that is a bit about me, please join me in introducing yourselves!
Duodenal Switch 4/29/09
Loving my DS!!
Loving my DS!!
Hi Maria,
What a great idea to do introductions!
Kerry Johnson here, I'm 56 have 4 married children and 4 grand daughters and another gandbaby due in July. My daughter Tracy works for TOSH in Murray isn't that a coincidence.
I've lived in St. George and Santa Clara my whole life so I'm one of the very few natives down here. I'm an electrical contractor and we do work in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California.
I had VGB back in 1980, which the staple line broke down on and last September I got a revision to DS and I'm lovin my DS. I've lost 65 pounds so far and I feel GREAT!
Well now you know a little of the dirt on me,
Kerry
What a great idea to do introductions!
Kerry Johnson here, I'm 56 have 4 married children and 4 grand daughters and another gandbaby due in July. My daughter Tracy works for TOSH in Murray isn't that a coincidence.
I've lived in St. George and Santa Clara my whole life so I'm one of the very few natives down here. I'm an electrical contractor and we do work in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California.
I had VGB back in 1980, which the staple line broke down on and last September I got a revision to DS and I'm lovin my DS. I've lost 65 pounds so far and I feel GREAT!
Well now you know a little of the dirt on me,
Kerry
To add to the So Utah group, I currently live in Hurricane. I had my RNY surgery at Stanford Hospital in California in 2005. When Hubby was told he could live anywhere and work from home, it took us 3 weeks to get the h....out of California and back to Utah. I've had complications of my surgery but not from having the surgery itself. Supposedly my intestines herniated into the voids where the fat once was. I had that corrected exactly 1 year and 3 days after the initial surgery. Then in the fall of 2007 I had my gall bladder out. Since then I've found out that if you really have surgical needs it is best to go north to SLC or south to Vegas. I have had a nightmare of a time, and still have repercussions from a botched surgical job. It has caused me to become diabetic which I did the weight loss thing to avoid. I now have perferated ulcers that were not there when they did the first gall bladder surgery. It has caused liver damage, and pancreatitis. I'm in a holding pattern waiting for still further surgery to fix the botched gall bladder removal. I would never reccomend So. Utah for gastric surgery of any kind since it was the same group that nearly killed me. It took 4 more surgeries after the gall bladder site blew out to save my life, and a month in the hospital. Then to find out 4 months later they didn't fix it properly and I have to go through it all again. If they can't do a simple gall bladder surgery, how can they do something so major as gastric surgery. OK my rant is over. I just wanted to let those in So. Utah know that they really need to do some background work on type of surgery, and who will preform it. What are the stats of survival and complications for that surgeon.
Would I do gastric surgery again? YES in a heart beat. Other than this nightmare with the gall bladder it has changed my life for the better. I have energy that was not there. I have collar bones that I never in my life had had, even when I was an emaciated little kid. It got my Hasimotos under control. I was traveling and having fun. People didn't treat me like I was subhuman any longer. hubby called me a cheap date to take to dinner. It is not something I would say do unless you do your homework. It is not the easy way out, but a tool to use with a lot of hard work.
Would I do gastric surgery again? YES in a heart beat. Other than this nightmare with the gall bladder it has changed my life for the better. I have energy that was not there. I have collar bones that I never in my life had had, even when I was an emaciated little kid. It got my Hasimotos under control. I was traveling and having fun. People didn't treat me like I was subhuman any longer. hubby called me a cheap date to take to dinner. It is not something I would say do unless you do your homework. It is not the easy way out, but a tool to use with a lot of hard work.
Hey Aggie, 
great to meet you! It sounds like you have been through more than your share of "no fun". I hope you can get the remaining issues resolved so you can start feeling good about your weight loss and get onto the job of living!
Kerry on this board lives in Southern Utah, I'm lucky (?) enough to live in the ever growing Salt Lake valley and am very lucky to have a surgeon in this area that does the surgical procedure of my choice.
Hope to learn more about you.
Maria
great to meet you! It sounds like you have been through more than your share of "no fun". I hope you can get the remaining issues resolved so you can start feeling good about your weight loss and get onto the job of living! Kerry on this board lives in Southern Utah, I'm lucky (?) enough to live in the ever growing Salt Lake valley and am very lucky to have a surgeon in this area that does the surgical procedure of my choice.
Hope to learn more about you.
Maria
Duodenal Switch 4/29/09
Loving my DS!!
Loving my DS!!
Hi. I'm Sean and I'm a recovering food addict. I had my surgery with Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians in April 2007 at the weight of 474.1 lbs. I currently weight 224.2 lbs. Roex-En-Y Gastric Bypass has worked wonders for me and my surgeon, Dr. Sherman Smith is someone I would recommend to anyone. Picking the correct surgeon is the #1 most important thing. I was fortunate that my mother had worked as an anesthesiologist for over 30 years in the SLC area and was able to poll the nurses she had worked with on who they recommended as a surgeon. She was told Dr. Smith and Dr. McKinley over at RMAP were two of the best.
If you've read my other forum on here, you'll know that Dr. Smith's nurse, Carly, also banned me from their message support board. I was banned because I posted a true story about her rudeness, something I've found many people have had issues with. I truly believe RMAP needs to work on their customer service skills. Some of the nurses and front office staff there are wonderful but they could do such a better job. It's too bad that telling them that causes them (Carly) to feel threatened and the need to ban people from posting.
Anyway, I'm now on to figuring out the plastic surgery portion of my journey. WLS has changed my life and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to have it (despite the fact that insurance doesn't seem to see the benefits). My blood pressure is 117/71 instead of 136/94, my cholesterol has dropped from 244 to 176 (HDL, LDL, and Triglycerides are all good), and so on. But most of all I enjoy being able to get my laundry from the basement and being able to jog up the stairs and not feel like I'm having a coronary.
Great to see you all here. Pictures of my journey are on my blog at www.seanstransformation.blogspot.com
Sean
If you've read my other forum on here, you'll know that Dr. Smith's nurse, Carly, also banned me from their message support board. I was banned because I posted a true story about her rudeness, something I've found many people have had issues with. I truly believe RMAP needs to work on their customer service skills. Some of the nurses and front office staff there are wonderful but they could do such a better job. It's too bad that telling them that causes them (Carly) to feel threatened and the need to ban people from posting.
Anyway, I'm now on to figuring out the plastic surgery portion of my journey. WLS has changed my life and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to have it (despite the fact that insurance doesn't seem to see the benefits). My blood pressure is 117/71 instead of 136/94, my cholesterol has dropped from 244 to 176 (HDL, LDL, and Triglycerides are all good), and so on. But most of all I enjoy being able to get my laundry from the basement and being able to jog up the stairs and not feel like I'm having a coronary.
Great to see you all here. Pictures of my journey are on my blog at www.seanstransformation.blogspot.com
Sean
robison9582
on 5/4/09 6:26 am - North Ogden, UT
on 5/4/09 6:26 am - North Ogden, UT
Sean~I wondered why you disappeared. I loved reading your messages you have so much insight and you were always honest and upfront. I stopped going there once you were gone.
Thank you for your kind message. I am back on RMAP but it's not the same as it used to be. Hopefully it will get better in time. You can also find me on my blog at www.seanstransformation.blogspot.com or on Obesity Help under the For RMAP Patients message thread (started by me). You can also email me. My email address is listed in my profile which can be accessed by visiting my blog.
I hope to hear from you again soon.
Sean
I hope to hear from you again soon.
Sean
Dude... Carly seriously banned you for that!? I didn't read the story or anything because I've been off the radar...but that's super lame! When did all that shizz go down?
***Edit:
By the way... I'm Amber. From Northern Darkness, Utah. Had surgery April 08. Currently battling the last 40. And it is a horrid fight.
***Edit numero 2:
I just read about all the RMAP board drama in your other post Sean. Sorry that she banned ya.
***Edit:
By the way... I'm Amber. From Northern Darkness, Utah. Had surgery April 08. Currently battling the last 40. And it is a horrid fight.
***Edit numero 2:
I just read about all the RMAP board drama in your other post Sean. Sorry that she banned ya.
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