GBP @ NSMC

I forgot to mention that I also had an exercise stress test with Dr. Anderson to determine my ideal heart rate for exercise and to determine whether there were any problems with my ticker.

After all the preliminary meetings I stuck like glue to all the clinicians to get their reports sent to Pat and Annie. Everyone got their reports in within 7-14 days except psychology. I know that report takes much longer to prepare and everyone is swamped with work but I was chomping at the bit to get the package finalized! I must have called every other day to get updates.

Dealing with Blue Cross was very frustrating - I originally called them (before meeting with any clinicians) to determine whether I would be covered for the surgery. I had no idea how the approval process worked so I figured they could walk me through the process. HAH! Boy what a mistake that was! I spent 15 minutes going around in circles with the woman who answered my call. Finally she agreed to send me the policy regarding BCBS' coverage guidelines.

Once everything came together and Pat sent the packet to Annie who sent it off to my insurance company for approval. I hate how so many things come down to money but I was ready to fight tooth and nail for the surgery. My surgery date was officially entered into the books for July 13 and thankfully I didn't have to do any fighting. When I received the approval letter from Blue Cross it was a very happy time for me.

I emailed Pat on April 1, 2009 (ironic, no?) and officially began the process on April 3 when I met with Pat for an informal information session and collect the paperwork (always got to have the paperwork!) to get things rolling.

I completed and returned every single piece of paper necessary to Pat within the week and with her OK I set up a meeting with Dr. Rick Buckley. That was scheduled for April 22. Once I had the date for meeting Dr. Buckley I called Heart and Wellness and got meetings set up with an RN (Anne) for April 28 and RD (Terri) for April 30. Psych was a bit harder to get in touch with but I managed to secure an appointment with Leora on April 21.
I'd already told my two closest friends that I was thinking about the surgery and when I mentioned Dr. Buckley one friend immediately started gushing about him. While she said she hadn't met him she'd heard wonderful things about him so that immediately made me feel great about meeting him. I admit I've met some surgeons who have the "holier than thou" attitude so I wasn't sure what my first meeting would be like.

My first meeting with Dr. Buckley and I was hooked. There wasn't anyone else I would even consider going under the knife with. He's approx. 6'2, "normal" sized, with mostly white hair Most importantly he has this calming presence about him - it's unlike anything I've experienced before - I was nervous when I first met him but within minutes I was feeling totally relaxed and was able to joke around. He made me feel like I was his only patient: he took his time reviewing data, answering my questions, examining me, and explaining the process in laymen's terms yet detailed enough to cover all the bases. He reviewed the risks and explained whether he thought I was a good candidate for the surgery. When we finished I was absolutely convinced and reassured that this was what I needed to do for myself and that it was the right decision for me.

The Heart and Wellness meetings were easy - Anne took my measurments for the before and after comparisons and we reviewed my medical history. Terri reviewed my eating habits and previous attempts with dieting, and explained what my new diet would be pre- and post-op.

During the psychological evaluation Leora and I discussed my support system and any emotional challenges I'm currently facing or may face in the future. There were many tests to complete (nothing like rocket science or neurophysics!!) which easily took two hours. Anyone who knows me knows I have a lead foot when driving so my favorite question on the exam remains is "Do you like to drive fast?" Where is the "heck yeah!" option when I need it??

Here’s my thought process:

1. I get the willies with the thought of having a foreign object inside my body and I was nervous of the band slipping or rupturing so that immediately discounted the lap-band for me.
2. How much weight do I need/want to lose? Ideally I would like to weigh between 130 and 150 pounds so that pointed me towards the bypass because GBP patients lose more weight (faster, too!) than lap-band patients. One person lost over 250 pounds with the GBP so that immediately made me hopeful that I could lose 200 pounds if I worked really hard.
3. What about the risks associated with GBP? Vitamin deficiencies didn’t scare me because they’re so easy to avoid if I do things right. I mean, come on, how hard is it to take a daily multi-vitamin and calcium supplements (both chewable!!). Blood tests can reveal any other problems which can usually be corrected before it gets too serious (i.e. B12 deficiency can be resolved with B12 injections if necessary).
4. Why shrink the stomach instead of just constrict it? I lost the ability to feel full a long time ago to the point where I could eat 5 pieces of a large pizza without feeling full. It wasn’t until the sixth slice that I would feel the physical pain of my stomach trying to accommodate the massive amount of food. I decided that shrinking my stomach to a specific size would allow the sensation of being full to return without the physical pain I normally experienced. In other words, I know my stomach is only three ounces (approximately) so I can only eat three ounces of food before I should feel full. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule such as soup and salad but I’m focusing on “real” food. There’s also an added bonus: if I try to force that fourth ounce of food there are no doubts that it will come right back up the hard way which discourages me from overeating.

My first thought was “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” I’ve been overweight since I was 7-years-old and I decided I didn’t want to be fat the rest of my life. So why not join a gym and/or Jenny Craig? Been there. Done that. Multiple times. I've been through Weight Watchers, Curves, hospital-affiliated nutrionists, the Atkins Diet, calorie-counting programs, and self-dieting attempts. While some people are really good at taking off 10 pounds and keeping it off, I found I'm really good at taking off 10 pounds then putting back on 20 pounds. So with every program I tried I would gain ten pounds as a result of "starving" my body.

Honestly, health wasn’t the first thing on my mind; more like third or fourth. I want to be able to run for even a short distance without feeling like I’m going to die from my heart exploding. I’ve dreamed of horseback riding for longer than I can remember and I’ve been too big to ride (let alone pull myself up into a saddle) for over 15 years. People joked that it would be hard to tell the difference between me and the horse. I hate shopping at Catherine's Plus Sizes and not being able to go into any clothing store, grab something off the rack, and have two or three sizes immediately available to work with if it didn’t fit right. I hate taking up two seats on a bus and having to squeeze into “normal” sized chairs. Heck, I want to be able to cross my legs!

I figured the improved-health thing would come along on its own as I dropped the weight (i.e. lower blood pressure, better heart health, lower risk of type 2 diabetes). I'll go into greater detail about how my health has changed in future posts, but that's pretty much the gist of why I decided on weight loss surgery.
 

Here are some pictures of me growing up (and out) from 1990 to 2009. (Click the thumbnail to see the full-size image)

Kindergarten 1990	Second Grade 1992
Fourth Grade 1994	Ninth Grade 1999
Eleventh Grade 2001	College Freshman 2003
Norwegian Sky 2009

Welcome to my journal/blog for my experience as a gastric bypass patient of North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts! Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy your stay :-)

I hope you find my insights, opinions, and suggestions helpful  whether you're a pre-op/post-op patient or a friend/family member of a patient.. 

As this is my first (and for now, only) blog please be patient as I build my page and add content; I promise to post as much content as frequently as I can!