On November 1, 2010 I had Gastric Bypass Surgery. The morning of surgery I weighed in at 289lbs. I didn’t just make the decision to get the surgery lightly, and I didn’t get it just to be thin. It started about a year before my surgery date. I went to my primary care doctor for a check up and he informed me that I needed to either lose weight to get my blood pressure under control or I needed to start medication for it. I refused to start medication, it scared me that I would need to depend on a medication that would regulate something to do with my heart. I mean I was 26 years old! I decided I would lose weight….even though I have fought with my weight all my life I was more determined now then ever. Well, from that date on I realized how my body didn’t want to lose weight….well that is what I thought at the time. Do I blame my body now? NO…but I will save that for later. I went back to my PCP after gaining more weight and told him I needed to make a drastic change, I wanted surgery…I wanted to talk to a surgeon and get my options. He didn’t take me seriously at first, but did give me a name to an awesome surgeon in the Pittsburgh Area, Doctor Gagne. Little did I know, this was the guy that was going to save my life.
I made my appointment and to make a long story short I brought Andrew with me and we both decided I was going to start the 6 month process. Different insurances make people go through different things in order for them to pay for the surgery. Basically they want to make sure that this is the process for you, and that you are going to benefit from the surgery. I personally think 6 months is not long enough to learn everything that a person that is considering surgery should learn, but I learned as much as I could in that 6 months. Here is the list of things I had to do within my 6 months…
Went to my PCP once a month to weigh in and go over my food log.
Log everything I ate for 6 months, went over it with my surgeon and tried to lose weight.
Take a sleep test for sleep apnea….which I had and had to go back and get fitted for a machine
Get my blood work
Submit to insurance and WAIT!
My insurance approved me Friday, when my surgery was scheduled for Monday….Yes…that is 2 days before surgery.
That morning I got up at 2am my surgery was scheduled for 7am that morning, I was the first. I got to the hospital and ready for surgery by 5am. I was scared, but I knew this was going to be the best day and the starting to the rest of my life.
……More to my journey to come……
