Colleen Cook

Hi,
My name is Colleen Cook and I am a WLS veteran from 1995! I know, way back in the day. I am so pleased to be part of the Bariatric Pal Community and look forward to my participation here.
I am the President of [url="http://www.bsciresourcecenter.com/index.php"]Bariatric Support Centers International,[/url] a company that since 2000, has specialized in long-term education and support services for weight loss surgery patients and the professionals who serve them. I am also the author of the # 1 Bariatric best selling book, [url="http://www.bsciresourcecenter.com/proddetail.php?prod=2.SHBook"]The Success Habits of Weight Loss Surgery Patients[/url].

My WLS Journey:

I quietly and secretly investigated weight loss surgery many years ago in 1993. I had a personal consultation with a surgeon and knew that this was the answer for me. Unfortunately, my insurance would not cover it and paying cash was not a possibility at that time. So, I just kept it to myself and thought, "Someday, some way I will do this." Years passed and I reached my all-time heavy weight of 250 pounds. At 5'2", I was unhappy and unhealthy, but still my insurance wouldn't cover it. On Thanksgiving weekend of 1995, my wonderful husband, knowing of my unhappiness and my deteriorating health, suggested that we take a second mortgage on our home and use the equity to pay cash for this surgery. Some of my friends were buying new cars and new furniture; I got a new body (and now I have the new car and the new furniture)! It was certainly a risk to undergo major surgery uninsured, but it was a risk we were willing to take. The decision to have weight-loss surgery has proven to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has been worth every penny of our investment.

Worth it, yes, but not always easy. At six years post op, I had very rare complication. For months I ignored a little pain in my stomach. I had woken up to this pain off and on and usually, once I got up and moved around a bit, the pain would go away. It felt kind of like something was stuck. Sometimes a little sip of water or a Saltine cracker would do the trick. It was my gallbladder, I was quite sure. But one morning in February 2000, the pain did not go away; rather, it got worse and worse. Assuming it would subside as it had done before, I went about my normal daily routine. Instead of subsiding, the pain grew steadily worse and by early afternoon, I acknowledged the need for medical attention. The physician and I were convinced that I needed my gallbladder removed, so we proceeded. My husband met me at the emergency room where I was pumped full of drugs, but regardless, the pain continued to worsen. To my good fortune, my bariatic surgeon was available to attend to me and removed my gallbladder. Suspecting, however, that this was not the only problem, he ordered a CAT scan. I began throwing up blood and bile in quantities unheard of for a gastric bypass patient. The doctors had found a very rare complication, termed 'reverse' intra- susception, wherein a small part of my bowel had kaleidoscoped over itself from the bottom to the top, just below the anastamosis. I was taken back into surgery where they removed that section of bowel. It was a strange and rare complication to be sure.

All is well now, but I share this with you to impress upon your mind that as a weight-loss surgery patient you must be ever-aware that you are not invincible! My weight has fluctuated through the years and it has been sometimes a challenge to maintain a weight that I am comfortable with. Prior to the complication I just shared, my weight was nearing 160 pounds. Following this incident, my weight dropped to 118 pounds and within several months was back to 132. Currently, I weigh 145 pounds, While I, like many of you, have times and seasons when I am in or out of control, I will forever be grateful for the advantages that wls has provided, for the knowledge I have of the Success Habits, and this community of support I am a part of.