rabrijumo

Ok I went to my first support group and as the night went on the group leader asked a new post op how much she hadReduced a little later another newbie asked why she asked that q in that way instead of asking how much she Lost. The answer was enlightening. Since we are trying to change ingrained habits behavior modification if you will. Saying you Lost something has the connotation that you would want to Find that something. So she trys to use words that don't have that verbal cue like reduced or eliminated. Those words don't have us looking for the pounds. Interesting huh?

Oh Raquel I am so sorry my fellow nurses didn't make you feel cared for. I to have had a few bad experiences with nurses, hospital staff, and docs. Sometimes it feels like a crap shoot. I would investigate the bariatric floor though before I changed my mind about my hospital. Different areas have different staff. We're the mean nurses in the emergency room that's where I had the most trouble. I was in the ER once and when they finally took me to the floor the nurses were a million times kinder and caringfrom the start.

I wanted to ask you do you have diabetes or other comorbities and what is your ht or bmi? I also thought of going with the band at first. My feelings for it were that it was less invasive and could be more easily reversed. On the flip side the wt loss was slower and it didn't have the same effect on my diabetes. Plus I don't think having it removed makes your stomach " normal" again. So I went with the rny. I think it's the best desicion for me.

My cardiologist stopped my sotolol yesterday and admitted me to the hospital today. I converted to sinus rhythm at 5 pm. So I feel much better. Hope this new medicine stabilizes my heart for surgery. I am ready to take this step and make a new me for the rest of my life. I want to be active and vibrant. Ok that was Friday the 17th it is now the 23rd I got out of the hospital Monday and I went right to work. Started working out yesterday with my resistance bands felt good about that and then went to my first support group meeting. Got home had an unjury shake for dinner and then boom went into fib. It is different slower no head ache but still way wack. So I went to work feel ok can't walk far but I am trying to ignore it til it goes away. Oh and my damn tire has a slow leak so I had to put air in it before work too. Yesterday I took a whole list of questions and wrote em up and called my cardiologist and bypass docs office . Got some answers still a lot to figure out. Here they are: Ok so I am a nurse(almost 30 years now) I am most likely a PIA(pain in the a$$) to all my doctors because I "guide" my care and treatment, ask a lot of questions, and question their answers with a lot of data and research. The list below is the q&a for my RNY surgery 9/25/12. bluepoint is my gastric bypass doctors group, I have a cardiologist and a PCP or primary care physician, and a cardic surgeon to place my IVC filter. Doctor questions Bluepoint doctor questions Q: Pain control post op for arthritis Meds that can be liquid or crushed? ***no NSAID's**** A: Q:Is there a bowel prep diet pre op A: no Q: Expected length of stay in hospital A: 2 days Cardiology and PCP questions: Q: What are my needed meds post op? Tikosyn per cardiologist- can it be opened and added to liquid to take? Kdur – will be on k added fluids in hospital and monitored Magnesium ? Actos glipizide will be off these after surgery and on a sliding scale insulin. Recommended sugar control pre op suggested sliding scale insulin now (ask my pcp to write for the insulin) Q: Lovenox? Since I need to be off 5 days pre IVC placement and 4 days pre RNY surgery are we concerned about stroke risk? I am! Also optifast will it affect my Afib or electrolyte balance ? Bluepoint wants cardiologist to adjust my cardiac meds on optifast if needed. A IVC filter DOCTOR q's (cardiac surgeon) Q: Stop Coumadin prior to insertion when? A: 5 days prior Q:When and where procedure done A: Fairfax or fairoaks Q:Anesthesia used propofol? A:General Q: IS MAC/PROPOFOL an option A: Q: Do they (IVC placement doctor) need clearance from cardiology and PCP prior to IVC placement A:no

I agree with everyone here the drug most commonly used is the same one Michael Jackson used for sleep. So for many it's like a great sleep and they wake up refreshed. I would ask them what they use because general anesthesia is a totally different thing from twilight sleep or conscious sedation with both you don't feel or remember anything but I am very sensitive to general and am hard to rouse and puke a lot but was just fine with the propofol. It's a very fine med just requires monitoring and skilled administrators. Plus your procedure is not a long one so you won't be out long. Good luck Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

I have seen unjury recommended here and my psych counselor gave me some sample packets it was pretty good Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

We share our surgery date and I to have to do the liver shrinking diet. I bought my supplies ( Optifast ) online on eBay saved about 100 bucks. I bought an extra weeks worth to jump start my diet and did it for three days. I noticed I was not hungry did not have the headaches I have seen people complain about but I did have gas and diarrhea. We will both start out 13 days on the 12th so we can commiserate and support each other through it. Are you dieting now? When I First started my three month program with the drs office I went a bit food crazy and binged on all the food I was giving up. I actually gained 8 lbs and my doc was not happy. So now I am doing the four food groups the drs website suggested Protein Veggies Fruit Limited carbs whole wheat only and small quantities Plus I data entry everything I eat into myfitnesspal it keeps my snacking to a minimum because I don't like to admit to it lol

Talk to the doctor that prescribed the meds and let him/her look into prescribing liquid forms and or crushable alternatives for the time release ones. When is your anticipated date of surgery? Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

Yes it depend on your insurance requirements. get with the surgical coordinator at the office and let her/him spell it out for you. Then get to work on the needed documentation. Like when did you have your last sleep study? ever had a colonoscopy or EGD? psych eval for surgery with a bariatric counseler(make sure its whatever you insurance requires ie psychologist vs psychiatrist) try to get copies of all testing to send in to your bariatric surgeons office to minimize things getting lost. I make them make a copy and keep a copy myself. set up a primary care doc medical clearance for surgery appointment but not more then 30 days before the surgery date itself. if you have cardiac or pulmonary comorbidities you will need appointments with those docs to to clear you for surgery. I went to my first seminar april 10th and my surgery is scheduled for 9/25 so a little ove 5 months . I had to do my three months of classes at the bariatric groups office and when it was completed they gave me a date 2 month in the future that was dissappointing but maybe if I had been more pushy I would have had them set a date in anticipation of completing the classes instead of waiting til they were done. good luck

Gooooooood luck Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

Good luck and congrats on starting this phase of your journey! Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

I have lost another 4 lbs total of 12 Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

hi Chunkypudding, I also am having my surgery in september and i started a SEPTEMBER MEMBER thread for all of us having our surgery next month come join us. its in the pre op gastric bypass area

also my ticker for the count down to my surgery date its 43 days away and the ticker says 6 weeks 12 days now when i do the math its 6 weeks 1 day and 12 days is 1 week and 5 days so it makes no sense

Ok I have an external blog and i linked it to my profile the way it guided me to but when you look at my profile and click blog it says i do not have one. why? I went through the site to add my external link so why is the only way to get to my blog is to go to blogs and click on the tab for external links and I am the only person with an external blog. It does take you to my blog but how will anyone here find it when my profile doesnt mention it? here it is btw http://rabrijumo.blogspot.com/

I put my list of things I have gotten and those I still need to get done in the September members thread

Ok I started SEPTEMBER MEMBERS in the pre op RNY area of the forum Come one and all having their surgery in sept 2012 for support and friends going through this life changing surgery for a better life

Ok let's do this I will start a thread called September Members ! Let's support each other in our pre op time through our surgeries and onto our new lives with this awesome tool. See you all there.

September members sounds good? Any other sept surgery peeps wanna join us. If so how do like the name?

I am embarrassed to say my wt but I have posted it all over so my start or highest wt is 448 I am 5 ft 71/2 inches tall which makes my bmi 70. I was a little less when I started this process but started a goodbye to food binge that had me gain to my highest wt. I have since started a data entry of all I eat on myfitnesspal that helped me lose 8 lbs. I then did 3 days of optifast and now I am doing low carb meat - protein veggies fruit and no " white" refined sugar, potato , and pasta. I am required to do two weeks of optifast pre op.

Let's think of a name for our group September our life begins Septsurgery ........... Any suggestions mine kinda suck lol

I also have my surgery scheduled for September. September 25, 2012. I started my journey April with a seminar. First dr appt with Bluepoint medical group dr Moazzaz april12. Started my three months of classes 4/24 because traffic was so bad I missed my 1st appt the 20th. I had some complications with my appointment schedule because the regular scheduler was out on maternity leave. I was very upset with the office staff but they made it up to me on my final weigh in. I got my " second" md/np appt that very day and they gave me a surgery date of sept 25. That was July 24 2 days before my 51st bday. I actually do not have official insurance approval but they are confident they will get it this week. My doctor wants me to lose 45 lbs before my surgery day so I started seriously getting a handle on my eating by data entering everything I eat in myfitnesspal. Then I did a few days of optifast last week to jump start my low carb diet. Now I am low carb only no sweets. I have lost 8 lbs but I do not have a scale that can weigh me so I don't know if I have lost anymore. Will drop by my drs office and use their scale Monday. So let's start a september surgery group. Anyone else interested?

Take your good fortune and WALK with it! Pain is very personal as a labor and delivery nurse I have seen a cesarean section hop out of bed and walk to the bathroom with No pain meds and a vaginal uncomplicated birth need pain meds every four hours. Congrats and just be mindful and aware of any pain starting I teach my patients to use the pain scale for themselves. 0 to 10 0 is no pain 5 is the point where you can not rest due to the discomfort and 10 is complete agony. If you FEEL under 5 your ok when your level rises medicate it so your not going above the 5. This will allow you toove and rest and heal. Good luck and continued good healing!