WARNING TO PRE-OPS: Think twice, cut once -- or else!

No kidding, huh?  This one is riding the fast train to a slow & painful death.

If she is not the head of her health care team, who the hell exactly does she think is?  Um, yea, because they ALL care that much about HER.

BTW, I'm Andrea.  Nice to meet you.

30% is the number you are looking for.


And just to let you know, let me share with you just one thing.

Last year, I was faced with osteomalacia -- adult-onset rickets.  This was due partially to having two children postop and following my surgeon's and dietician's (three dietician's!  two of the WLS dieticians, to be exact) nutritional guidelines to a T.  My iron was already crap.  I'd already been threatened with B-12 shots during my first pregnancy, but miraculously got that up without much help.  And now I had rickets.

So I call my surgeon with my lab values, and my answer was the following:  "Continue to take your tums and flintstones and you'll be fine."  Tums?  I mean, I think everyone knows that carbonate is not bioavailable in RNY guts now.. and this is from my doc?  WTF?  I at least expected the worthless D2 script, but not a tums suggestion.

Now -- I love my surgeon.  I'd like to make that clear.  Dr. Burry is a skilled man and if he wanted to cut me open to show off my guts, I'd let him.  I had adhesions removed in April of this year and the surgeon who took them out (since I live 4 states away now) told me the surgeon who did my original surgery did a "beautiful job" and I believe it.  But a nutritionist he is not.  His nutritionist spent her time pushing her protein on me rather than helping me with vitamins and meal plans -- berrating me for when I couldn't get enough protein in, not helping me when I had food intolerances (later to be determined that I had both soy and lactose intolerances -- I found out on my own 2 years later from research).

So please, yes, listen to your medical team.  You will never hear me tell you otherwise.  But also use your eyes and brain and read things and study on your own.  You have the internet -- and you are a nurse!  You have resources that I would kill to have -- tons of peer-reviewed data about nutrition and such at your fingertips that you could study and learn from and you are refusing to even open your mind to it?  Why?  What is the harm in opening your eyes to the possibility that people may not have the newest information out there, especially given how quickly information is coming out in this day and time?

My point -- be your own advocate -- because if you aren't, no one else will be.

Thank you Andrea, You do seem sincere in your concerns. I take Centrum forte daily, b12 , 1800 mg calcium citrate, vit b complex 100 and losec. I have palifer iron but I do not take iron.

I find my health team very knowledgeable and are able to answer any question that I ask. Believe me, I ask a lot.

I am very good ar being my own advocate, If I am unsure, I have no trouble asking until I am satisfied that I understand the answer.

Sorry for all of your struggles. Are you feeling better now?

This is on an unrelated situation, but speaks to the issue of not always following what your doctors say and finding things online.  I was diagnosed with Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia 16 years ago. The "cure" was a bone marrow transplant, which was still considered experimental at the time, and carried a 25% mortality rate from the transplant procedure alone (not counting any other complications, infections, etc). My brother was a perfect match.  We consulted with the best in the country: Johns Hopkins, George Washington University, and the University of MD at Baltimore (which has a specific practice devoted to leukemia).  All recommended the transplant.

My dad, who was a college professor at the time and had internet access (remember this was 1993), got on line and found an unpublished journal article from Europe that said people with my specific chromosonal type were surviving long term with only high dose chemo, not the transplant. My dad told my doctors about this and was met with disdain and ridicule. One doctor however, at the UMAB, got on line himself and also found the article (which was pending publication). At the next consult, he actually apologized to my dad and said based on that study, he was changing his recommended course of treatment for me.  So I went for chemo and not the bone marrow transplant, and here I am 16 years later still in remission.  I truly believe my dad saved my life, as the transplant was such a risky procedure at that time, and very few people survived it.

Just saying.

Well, I went out of rickets in about a week after taking high-dose dry D3 for about a week, if that's what you are asking.

But your posts are not adding up.  Previously you stated you were taking four vitamins a day -- this is much more than four vitamins a day.  This is four vitamin types a day, yes, but not four vitamins a day.

At 11:39 PM Pacific time:

WARNING TO PRE-OPS: Think twice, cut once -- or else!

325

5000

DianaCox 1 day ago

Laura M. 30 minutes ago

Thanks to my biggest fans, including cancer lady, the loonie, the Joker who thinks the lapbands are somehow placed WITHOUT any surgery (!!??!!), and let me not forget the ones who have me blocked but still contribute to the hit and post count!

I find it scary that we have ppl on here that are copying what we write on what we are feeling at a point & then use it against you later on.

I really thought this was a nice site where we could vent about our WLS feelings in a NICE way...was I wrong??? I find this whole entire thread just plain out MEAN spirited...and I hope the admin. does soemthing about it.

Whats the war on the surgeries for anyway??? Not everyone wants the same things in life....let everyone be.  :)

Welcome to the internet, where anything you post is PUBLIC and can be referred to or *gasp* copied and posted elsewhere at any time. No one has any reason to use anything against you unless you're an ass to someone first (and I'm not saying YOU have been, just explaining how things happen).

And these "can't we all just get along" posts aren't going to change how anyone acts or responds. All it's going to do is keep this thread at the top of the front page of the board because people keep adding new posts!

To provide pre-ops with ACCURATE information about ALL of their surgical options, before they make a likely irrevocable decision that will affect every day of their lives for the REST of their lives.  This is particularly critical if all of the insurance companies jump on the bandwagon of the recent policy changes that this post was initially about, and make it a universal exclusion -- one bariatric surgery per lifetime, no revisions covered.

Think about it - it's not too late for you to change your mind.

But that's the whole point. You are not providing people with accurate information on all surgeries, You are advocating for DS only. Sweet mother of god woman even you must see that. It's as plain as the nose on your face.

I am more advocating for accurate information than you are. You are telling everyone that if you have not chosen DS then you are screwed and you don't give a rat's ass about them or their opinions. Too late for them. And if you are considering wls you had better have enough sense to choose DS or you will fail in your weight loss efforts. Is this your version of accurate information?

If you feel the need to advocate for DS at least be honest and post the cons as well as the pros. Life after DS is not a bed of roses that you make it out to be, Glad you enjoy burying your head in the sand but that's not for everyone.
 
You haven't even addressed my question about how DS would have been a better choice for me. Guess this loonie from Canada got you stumped. Pity you couldn't intimidate me like you have other opponents to DS. I am just as opinionated as you are.