The beginning began in November of 2010. Right after Asher was born I decided I wanted to have gastric bypass surgery. My very good friend was having it and she gave me the courage to go forward with it.
Asher was born on November 5th, 2010 and I was determined to breastfeed at least a year so this pushed the surgery out to at least November of 2011. I also found out you couldn't have a GBS (gastric bypass surgery) within a year of a previous surgery so it had to wait regardless due to my c section.
So, the first step when going with Omaha Gastric Bypass, is to go to a seminar. I did this when my friend went so I didn't have to repeat that step. In the seminar they tell you what type of weight loss surgeries are available and give you insurance packets. I chose to have Dr. Michael Hovey, based on the fact that he was a total babe! After finding out I had to have a 6 month monitored diet with my Primary Care Physician I started that process in February of 2011.
I chose to have Laprascopic Roux-en-y Gastric bypass surgery. There is also a couple other options when choosing including; lapband, duo switch, and vertical gastric sleeve. I chose RNY because it is the most extreme and the most permanent. I didn't want to do something this drastic and have the chance at failing. I know, I know, there are hundreds of people who fail at RNY as well...I have heard it from all of you negative people who tried to get me to not go through with it.
So, after weaning Asher from nursing, I decided it was time to submit to insurance. I had already had my 6 month diet done for quite some time and also had to have a psychiatric evaluation to see if I could mentally handle the surgery. I gave all my information to the insurance ladies at the office and it was submitted on February 6th, 2012. By February 7th I had been denied! I was denied because my BMI dropped below 40 for two months in 2008. So I started putting together an extreme appeal. Unfortunately, the only problem, I had was being fat. Most people have other co-morbidities they have to deal with that gets them approved with no problems. I also was very close to the baseline for the surgery weight wise. After handwriting 38 pages of family history and pretty much begging my insurance company (Blue cross blue shield) I was approved after an outside Doctor read all the information.
I called and gave the office the news that I was approved and was given a surgery date of April 10, 2012. This was great news! Then came the 10 day full liquid diet. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Wrong! 10 days of nothing to chew is a very hard process to get through and made me really wonder if I even wanted to go through with the surgery. I made it to the day of surgery, happy as can be. My husband has not been supportive through out this process at all, just to through that out there! I had a lot of mixed emotions about leaving my kids for the first time and whether or not I was being selfish by having an elective surgery with the possibility of death as an outcome. This is not an easy surgery and last minute I suddenly worried I wouldn't make it out.
Day of Surgery:
I arrived to Immanuel Medical Center with Dave and my Dad met us there at 8:30am. I was taken in to pre-op right away and started that whole process. It started with an iv that the nurse blew three veins to get in. That was okay though I realize I have bad veins and she felt really bad. Then the Anesthesiologist came in. I had to use the bathroom for a routine pregnancy test and when I came back, Dave and my Dad had been allowed back in the room. Anybody that knows about me, knows my dad had a pretty tragic accident with horses the week before Asher was born and he likes to be the center of attention in any medical situation. So, instead of the dr getting the information he needed from me he had to ask my dad to stop talking about himself so he could get his job done. Embarrassing! After the Anesthesiologist left the surgeon and the assistants came in for questions then I was given two shots in the stomach for blood clots and some Ativan to calm me down. I gave Dave a kiss and was wheeled on back. I don't remember anything until I woke up in the most extreme pain I have ever felt in my life. I am not exaggerating, I wanted to be dead. I was given shot ofter shot of morphine and nothing was helping, I just laid there sobbing in recovery.
After about 2 hours in recovery I was taken to my room where the nurses were panicking because my respirations were only 6 and my blood sugar was 205. The surgeon was called and I was given a shot of dilaudid for pain and something to help the blood sugar. I am positive I was breathing so shallow because every breath was such extreme pain I wanted to be dead. The first person I saw was Kate!!! Why wasn't it my husband though? Well, my dad decided to ask the women in the reception to bake him fresh cookies in the waiting room. So they were waiting for that...just one more reason as to why I don't involve him much. So all I could think about for the first day really was the extreme pain and going in and out of consciousness!
Day 2...walked and leak test. This was just a test to make sure the staple lines were secure on my new stomach and there was no leaking. No leaks so I could now have 1 ounce of water an hour! It took me the full hour to drink it too! So weird! I had the guts to look at my stomach the second day and it wasn't so bad. I had 5 incisions that were steri stripped and then a 2 inch incision that was left open with a drain coming out of it. This is where the worst pain was.
Day 3...I got to go home. The pain is still unbearable as it has been the whole time, but I wanted to see my babies so bad that I didn't care. I think I cried more in the week post op than I ever have in my whole life.
I am now almost four weeks post op and its still a daily struggle. I ended up in the er with a blood clot, dangerously low potassium, extreme dehydration, and malnourishment. After lots of fluids, potassium, and more shots in the stomach I feel much better.
In the first 11 days post surgery I lost 30 pounds. Since then it slowed down a lot. I lose maybe a pound a day and a few days I didn't lose anything. I can barely manage 500 calories a day and need about 700. I get sick to my stomach constantly and am on pureed foods until 6 weeks at least. A full meal is less than 1/4 cup in size. I have not felt hunger or fullness. The gas is horrible and my stomach makes interesting noises. ha!
My biggest problem with the surgery is people asking me what i had for dinner, or any meal. I went from having food in my life and almost ruling my life to I really don't even care if I ever have another meal. Food is strictly fuel for me now. I get no enjoyment out of eating or drinking and this is what I wanted, but still hard to wrap my head around. Its more of a mental struggle than anything else. Watching people eat annoys me. Hearing people excited for dinner, annoys me! Seeing the amount of food I used to eat disgusts me.
I "dump" on sugar and fat, which I am happy about, but it sucks soooooo bad when it happens. Dumping syndrome is when your body can't handle certain types of food and it literally makes you feel like dying. I also dump on eggs. My chest gets tight and I start shaking and sweating and have horrible intestinal pain. Theres lots of different ways that people dump and with many different foods! Anyway...enough for now, I have bored myself. At this point I don't want to put my weight up, but that may change as I get smaller and smaller! Have a great day Dolls!
