How did you first find out about bariatric surgery and what were your initial impressions of it?

As I said, my friend had it, and did great, and of course I had watched Carnie Wilson with great interest. I was worried at first, because I had passed on the bypass in 1980, when I had my gall bladder removed. My surgeon at that time was one of the pioneers of stomach stapling, and he said, "while I'm in there, why don't you let me do that, too"? As I told him at that time, my attitude was, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I eventually had to realize that other stuffin me was broke and this WLS would fix it.

Describe your experience with getting insurance approval for surgery. What advice, if any, do you have for other people in this stage?

Have you doctor handle it. Mine did and I was approved in 1 week.

What was your first visit with your surgeon like? How can people get the most out of this meeting?

Write out your questions. I had done a lot of research and was well prepared...fortunately, so was my doc with his answers.

What made you finally decide to have the surgery?

I felt I had no choice. My life was becoming unworkable at nearly 500 pounds.

How did you decide which proceedure to have?

Research showed the RNY was the preferred method, and I had an open procedure because the lap was not available to someone my size.

What fears did you have about having complications or even dying from from the surgery, and what would you tell other people having the same fears now?

Dying? None. Complications? I was not too worried, because my surgeon has done over a thousand of these surgeries, has never lost a patient, and has never had to open anyone up to fix problems. That gave me a lot of confidence I could handle anything else.

How did your family and friends react to your decision? Would you have communicated anything differently if you could now? How supportive were they after your surgery?

I'm sure they were concerned, but were quite supportive.

How did your employer/supervisor react to your decision? What did you tell him/her? How long were you out of work?

Not nuts about it, because of the time off, but in the end became very supportive as well.

What was your stay in the hospital like? How long where you there? What things are most important to bring?

The hospital stay was trying. The doctors were great, but the quality of nursing in a hospital that does LOTS of WLS were near useless. Many nurses acted as though they would rather be anywhere on earth than to serve my needs. Most did not speak serviceable English. My epidural pump needed to be changed about 6 times while I was in the hospital...5 times, the person doing it didn't know how to do it. And this was a very fancy hospital in Dallas, TX! Fortunately, I also had a couple of people who were real saints, and treated me wonderfully. Otherwise, I would have hated the whole stay. I've been in a hospital a few times and I know the difference.

Did you have any complications from the surgery? If so, how did you deal with them?

None whatsoever. I give the credit to God, for giving me such an amazing capacity to heal quickly, and to Dr. John Alexander, who has the surgery down to an art (after more than a thousand of them).

In the weeks after you got your surgery date, how did you feel? How did you cope with any anxiety you might have felt?

Not much anxiety. Once I made up my mind, I just gave it all up, and decided it was the only right decision. That calmed me down as much as I needed

Describe your first few weeks home from the hospital. What should people expect from this period?

Expect to be a bit sore, and expect your sleep to be sporadic and to be interrupted by trips to the bathroom. For some reason, I could not sleep more than an hour at a time for over three weeks. Then it settled down.

How far did you travel to have your surgery? (If far, how did this affect your aftercare?)

10 miles

Please describe in detail what things you could and couldn't eat in the weeks and months following surgery. What foods have been off limits? Please explain how your dietary tolerance changed week-by-week, and then month-by-month since surgery.

1.5 weeks, clear liquids, then 1 week full liquids, then 1 week pureed food, then full food. All because I tolerated everything so well. Some patients will need to have soft foods longer.

What was your actvity level in the days and weeks after surgery?

Walking and more walking....as much as you can handle.

What vitamins and/or dietary supplements have you taken since your surgery?

I eat 4 high quality(from the health food store) chewable vitamins a day--2 i the morning and 2 at night

What side effects (nausea, vomiting, sleep disturbace, dumping, hair loss etc.) were worse for you? For how long after surgery did they persist? How did you cope with them?

Just sleep problems for 3 weeks. I coped by walking around like a zombie.

What was the worst part about the entire bariatric surgery process?

Waking up as they dumped me into bed immediately after surgery....THAT hurt a whole lot.

What aftercare support group/program do you have? How helpful/important is this?

None so far....my doc has one if I need it, but so far, I'm doing marvelously, and I have some friends who have had the surgery who give me all the advice I need.

What is your scar like? Is this what you expected?

12" long (and a bit crooked to my chagrin). The doc must have been in a hurry to get me open. It's just what I had expected, havinf seen others.

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

None yet, but I know I'll have some. I hope to be mentally prepared and to treat each loss as a gift I've earned.

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

Just people who act weird when they see how little I eat in restaurants. Makes me feel a bit of a freak. Oddly enough, I NEVER felt that way when I was eating LOTS of food.