New to the board

Although I've been a member on OH for YEARS, I never really took the opportunity to get onto any of the boards.  Part of the reason was that I wasn't sure this would ever happen for me.  Between insurance issues, a (now ex) wife who threatened to leave me if I had the surgery (she also threatened to leave me if my pregnancy resulted in triplets.  I had twins and she still left...), moving between California, Texas and Colorado and a plethora of other life STUFF, I just never saw it in the cards, so to speak.  My weight has yo-yo'ed up and down since I joined OH in 2002.  I started at 315 pounds, dropped 80 pounds after a diagnosis of diabetes, got pregnant with twins, left the hospital under 200 pounds, now four years later, I have gained 72 pounds.  I will be 34 later this month and have more health issues than both my parents combined.  When I went into Student Health Services the first week of classes and was eventually diagnosed with hypertension, that was the LAST straw.  I have worked in healthcare since 2002 and am well aware of the dangers I was facing.  Both parents are hypertensive (although at normal weights).  I have seen patients die from strokes.  Some as young as I am.  When that monitor spit out 210/110 and my partner drug me to the ER, that hit home.  The concern and worry...the worry about what would happen to the girls if something were to happen to me, it was all too much.

I moved to Colorado in March to be closer to family and had no choice but to enroll in Medicaid for the three of us.  I hate the idea of having welfare, even though I have always worked and paid into it.  But the major advantage?  They will pay 100% for my RNY surgery (minus a $10 a day co-pay while I'm in-patient).  So I had to make a choice.  Keep taking handfuls of medication daily for the plethora of health issues I have, continue to be in constant physical pain and hope I can get a diet to work (ha!), or suck it up and get the surgery and move on with my life.  

I am currently a full time student working towards my RN.  I realized that I will be able to apply to nursing school at the end of next semester for fall 2011 admissions, which is GREAT.  What's not so great is the physical and physician's clearance I'm required to pass in order to get INTO nursing school.  At 5'3" tall and 270 pound with a laundry list of health problems, I don't see that happening at this point.  So this means that I'm going for that damn surgery after all this time.

I have a initial 3 hour visit/consult with a local surgeon on October 6.  From what their office tells me, Medicaid usually takes less than a month to process the prior authorization.  I am going for a surgery date in mid December after the fall semester is over.  I am also looking for a psychotherapist familiar with bariatric issues for my post-op care. 

I'm looking forward to "meeting" others here who have gone through or are going through the surgical process.  Sorry for the rambling post!

Hello Leza,

I hope that you find our little space of OH a supportive place for you during your journey! Let us know when you get a date!

:Danni

I just wanted to stop in and say hi.. I am fairly new and don't post often but I do get tons of information and encouragement from this site. I can relate to some parts of your story and we are very close in age, I hope all is a success for you!


            

Hi Danni and Wendy!

Thanks so much for your kind words.  I look forward to getting to know y'all on this board.  

 

I had my surgery in August of 2004 and was at goal weight by September 2005.  I entered my RN program in January 2007.  I don't think I could have completed it weighing 265 pounds on a 5'3" frame.  But, at 140 pounds, the knees and back didn't ache and my BP was normal.

I've been an RN for just over a year and there's no way in hell I could do this job before my RNY.

Go for it!!!

Sharyn,

You work in the Austin area?  Your pic looks familiar to me for some reason.  I was in Austin from 04-March 2010.  Worked for St. David's in 2005 as a tech and ADC for over 3 years til January of this year. 

Congrats on your weight loss and finishing your RN.  I went to ACC for a few years on a part time basis.  Just transferred everything out to Denver this semester :)

I do work in Austin, South Austin Hospital.  I worked there while in nursing school from June 2008 to June 2009.  I also had lots of clinicals there.

I went to ACC.

Wow, small world!  My friend Bonnie is an ultrasound tech at South Austin Hospital.  I've never been there before, but I know it's affiliated with St. David's.  Is that where you had your WLS?

SAH is affiliated with St. David's and my wife & I both had our WLS at St. David's Main, at 32nd and IH35.

I have only been with SAH since June of this year and don't really know anyone outside of my unit.  Maybe I will meet your friend, Bonnie, some day.

HEY MAMMA WELCOME AND MANY HUGS TO YOU