This wasn’t an easy decision to make and has been in the works for several years. I first considered it over 5 years ago and had the support of my husband. It didn’t feel like the right time then. With health issues becoming a concern, recognizing the limits that my choices have created, and experiencing the rudeness of people who don’t know me, I decided that now was the right time.
In July, I attended a meeting at MedCenter One in Bismarck to begin the process of getting a gastric bypass. I chose MedCenter One because I felt that it would be too difficult to be hospitalized in the same place that my husband had been while he was fighting cancer. I attended the meeting alone after doing some shopping. I have crowd anxiety issues so getting this far was a boost of confidence. I was feeling really good….until. I sat down to look through the materials. I glanced up at the screen and saw that the surgeon that performed three surgeries on Dan would also be my surgeon. He had switched hospitals. This rattled me a little, but I pulled myself together and made it through the meeting. I came home and spent a considerable amount of time filling out paperwork and making the necessary appointments. I met with and got a referral from my primary physician, met with the psychiatrist for the required evaluation, (I passed, by the way), and planned for my appointment with the surgeon. Three days before my appointment, I received a call. I was told that my surgeon was no longer employed by that hospital and the appointment was cancelled. I decided to look at my options. MedCenter One was working on getting another surgeon certified, but they didn’t know how long that would take. I contacted MidDakota Clinic and started the process again. More paperwork, more medical records to be released. On October 16th, I met with the nutritionist, nurse, financial department, and the surgeon. I originally wanted the surgery to be in November, but everything would have to fall into place quickly. Because of rapid growth and not enough employees in this area of the country it took over 3 weeks for my medical records to be sent to Bismarck. In addition, because of some of the limitations following surgery, I would have to be very careful at Christmas. I decided that I didn’t want to give up being able to play with and hold my grandchildren. The surgery is set for February 13th.
