Friday, December 12, 2008
You Tube and Lap Band
I have been checking out you tube lately for stories about the lap band. There are a lot of great before and after videos made by actual patients from their homes. But I really like this commercial.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Done With My 6 Months
I have not posted in a long time. I hope no one thought I was giving up on the surgery. I have been very busy running from appointment to appointment. I just completed my 6 month check list of appointments. Once a month I had to do these three things: 1. Go to the nutritionist. 2. Visit with my Primary Care Manager (Doctor) 3. Attend a bariatric surgery exercise class. I was so nervous that I would miss one, making my surgery date pushed back or cause me to start the 6 month process over again. I did it! I made it to all three once a month for the past 6 months.
Some other things I have accomplished are attending a 4 hour nutrition class. That was very informative. The biggest fact was learning that I will only be eating 4 TBLS of food for all three meals. And two protein shakes a day. That was not a typo....4 tbls. 2 of a protein and one fruit and one veggie. That is all my stomach will be able to take in at a time. The first few weeks will all be pureed food. Pureed veggies...yum!!! For my proteins I am not going to eat pureed meat or chicken, my proteins of choice will be peanut butter, tuna, refried beans and eggs. I can't really stomach eggs, but I know I can stomach it better than pureed meat. Another moment in class that I thought, "can I really do this?" was when I was told that I can't have gum anymore. I love gum. Why can't I have gum? I can't risk swallowing it. the gum will have a hard time passing the band and it could result in surgery, that is the worst case scenario.. But on top of that is that it will cause gas because of the air consumption while chewing. so no gum. Plus other things I will miss are popcorn. I love pop corn. Pop corn is one of many no nos..
Another thing I had to do was to take a sleep study test. They had to test for Sleep Apnia restless leg syndrome. I do not have it. In fact I have the opposite.....I have hyper sleep. Meaning that I am a very deep sleeper. Any of my kids could have told you that. They learned at a very young age, like four weeks, that they had better just sleep through the night because mommy can't hear them to come get them. And daddy has hyper sleeep too. Deep sleepers here.
So what is next. There is a few check ups I need and then a surgery date will be scheduled, hopefully, remember that I still have to wait for approval from the insurance company. I have a psych consult scheduled for next Tuesday. I don't think I have posted on the latest on my emotional therapy. I had written earlier about how much I love my eating disorder therapist. I went into see her in August. We had a great visit. She said she would get me my letter I needed stating that I am a good candidate for the surgery. I had not gotten the letter from her yet, but in September I was feeling yukky emotionally so I called to set an appointment and she was gone. They told me that she no longer worked there and could not release any info about where she was working now. I was so mad!!!! And very sad. The finding a new therapist has been nothing but torture!! I asked my current office if I could meet with someone else to get my psch consult. They said it will take 12 to 16 weeks to get one scheduled and that If would be put on a waiting list. I could not wait that long and that I would need a new referral anyways. I got a new referral and requested to be sent somewhere else that could see me faster. I got a letter in the mail for a therapist to call. I called him and he was so RUDE!!! first he asked me if I needed an appointment or if I just wanted him to place a prescription for medication. I thought it was weird that he asked if I wanted a prescription when I hadn't even met with him yet, nor had I told him my name. All I had said was "hello, I would like to schedule an appointment." I told him I needed a psych consult for bariatric surgery. and all he said was, "no I don't do that no I don't do that no I don't do that." I tried to tell him that I received his name from my insurance company and if there was any one at his office that did do it. before I could even get it out, her hung up on me. I was so upset. Scott was home at the time. Scott is a very passive and loving character. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt and tries to be noncrontational. It is a good quality and balaning out my drama queen side. And usually when I cry about stuff like this he tells me that I am over reacting....but not this time. As soon as I got off the phone, which he heard the brief conversation, he called the dr. right back and yelled at him. It was just a voice message, but it was a great voice message!! He told him that he had no right to hang up on me and treat his wife like that. I was so proud and so in love with him in that moment. I think it was one of the first times he stood up for me rather than try to convince me to see it from the other person's point of view. I loved it. I called my insurance company to ask for another dr. They gave me a list of five places to call. I called all five and left messages. Of all those messages only one place called me back. One very nice lady that said she does this all the time, help bariatric patients get their psych consults.
Other things I have to do include: upper GI, galbladder ultrasound, chest x-ray, blood work, and some other labs. Other than that, I am just waiting to hear from insurance and get a date scheduled. I am very excited, but nervous that this was all for nothing. I am nervous that it won't happen and I will be told no. Hopefully next time I post will be with a date!
Some other things I have accomplished are attending a 4 hour nutrition class. That was very informative. The biggest fact was learning that I will only be eating 4 TBLS of food for all three meals. And two protein shakes a day. That was not a typo....4 tbls. 2 of a protein and one fruit and one veggie. That is all my stomach will be able to take in at a time. The first few weeks will all be pureed food. Pureed veggies...yum!!! For my proteins I am not going to eat pureed meat or chicken, my proteins of choice will be peanut butter, tuna, refried beans and eggs. I can't really stomach eggs, but I know I can stomach it better than pureed meat. Another moment in class that I thought, "can I really do this?" was when I was told that I can't have gum anymore. I love gum. Why can't I have gum? I can't risk swallowing it. the gum will have a hard time passing the band and it could result in surgery, that is the worst case scenario.. But on top of that is that it will cause gas because of the air consumption while chewing. so no gum. Plus other things I will miss are popcorn. I love pop corn. Pop corn is one of many no nos..
Another thing I had to do was to take a sleep study test. They had to test for Sleep Apnia restless leg syndrome. I do not have it. In fact I have the opposite.....I have hyper sleep. Meaning that I am a very deep sleeper. Any of my kids could have told you that. They learned at a very young age, like four weeks, that they had better just sleep through the night because mommy can't hear them to come get them. And daddy has hyper sleeep too. Deep sleepers here.
So what is next. There is a few check ups I need and then a surgery date will be scheduled, hopefully, remember that I still have to wait for approval from the insurance company. I have a psych consult scheduled for next Tuesday. I don't think I have posted on the latest on my emotional therapy. I had written earlier about how much I love my eating disorder therapist. I went into see her in August. We had a great visit. She said she would get me my letter I needed stating that I am a good candidate for the surgery. I had not gotten the letter from her yet, but in September I was feeling yukky emotionally so I called to set an appointment and she was gone. They told me that she no longer worked there and could not release any info about where she was working now. I was so mad!!!! And very sad. The finding a new therapist has been nothing but torture!! I asked my current office if I could meet with someone else to get my psch consult. They said it will take 12 to 16 weeks to get one scheduled and that If would be put on a waiting list. I could not wait that long and that I would need a new referral anyways. I got a new referral and requested to be sent somewhere else that could see me faster. I got a letter in the mail for a therapist to call. I called him and he was so RUDE!!! first he asked me if I needed an appointment or if I just wanted him to place a prescription for medication. I thought it was weird that he asked if I wanted a prescription when I hadn't even met with him yet, nor had I told him my name. All I had said was "hello, I would like to schedule an appointment." I told him I needed a psych consult for bariatric surgery. and all he said was, "no I don't do that no I don't do that no I don't do that." I tried to tell him that I received his name from my insurance company and if there was any one at his office that did do it. before I could even get it out, her hung up on me. I was so upset. Scott was home at the time. Scott is a very passive and loving character. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt and tries to be noncrontational. It is a good quality and balaning out my drama queen side. And usually when I cry about stuff like this he tells me that I am over reacting....but not this time. As soon as I got off the phone, which he heard the brief conversation, he called the dr. right back and yelled at him. It was just a voice message, but it was a great voice message!! He told him that he had no right to hang up on me and treat his wife like that. I was so proud and so in love with him in that moment. I think it was one of the first times he stood up for me rather than try to convince me to see it from the other person's point of view. I loved it. I called my insurance company to ask for another dr. They gave me a list of five places to call. I called all five and left messages. Of all those messages only one place called me back. One very nice lady that said she does this all the time, help bariatric patients get their psych consults.
Other things I have to do include: upper GI, galbladder ultrasound, chest x-ray, blood work, and some other labs. Other than that, I am just waiting to hear from insurance and get a date scheduled. I am very excited, but nervous that this was all for nothing. I am nervous that it won't happen and I will be told no. Hopefully next time I post will be with a date!
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