nicunicu2002

Ive noticed quite a few nurses on this site so I thought I would start a thread for those of us that would like to have ONE more thing in common, besides the LB. I will start out... My name is Kimberly and Ive been an RN for 25 years. I currently live in the Boston MA area. I work in a neonatal intensive care unit. I also have a background as a sexual assult nurse examiner and DMAT (disaster medical assistance team) altho currently am not participating. I have many years of upper level management experience however decided to get out of that grind and do bedside nursing once again which I am enjoying. Once I leave the hospital, Im done. The other avenue of nursing that I am enjoying is Legal Nurse consulting. The money is great, the work is rewarding and you can do it from home. Im always looking for people to assist me in areas that I have no expertise in so this will be a great way to make contacts as well and ask for advice. I have not had the surgery yet, but will meet with the doc next thursday. I as well as most of you im sure have researched this to death. I look forward to reading everyones response.

Happy Nurses Week Everyone!!!

Turler.. I would be more than happy to give you some advice on legal nurse consulting. Contact me at my email addy, nicunicu2002@yahoo.com and I will fill you in. kim

welcome aboard marissa and congrats on your journey thru nursing school. i do think its smart to go for the ADN and let your hospital pay for the BSN and further if you want. good job!!

Gwen.. cudos to you for going to anesthesia school and trying to lose weight at the same time. Keep it up and good luck on your journey...keep in touch! kim

Laura, welcome to the site, I enjoyed reading your post! kim

hi Gigi...want to wish you luck in your journey. you work a difficult area in a difficult part of town im sure. ive worked some labor and delivery and never really liked it..always scared me for some reason... kim

purple... i know what you mean about working those night shifts. when i started here in boston, EVERY hospital I interviewed with required you to do swing shifts, ie 1/2 days and 1/2 nights...that really sucked because i just never got the rest that i needed and was always grumpy. your right about the eating on night shift. i read a study and found that most people that work the night shift tend to gain more weight because they found that people would eat just to try and keep awake, and everyone ended up bringing goodies into the night shift. i think too that the night shift has occasionally more down time than the day shift...anyway, absolutely know where you are coming from. by some miracle of God, I was moved to days the beginning of this year. now instead of sleepy, im just tired!! good luck at chop, the #1 childrens hospital in the world!!

congrats on your new journey....please keep us posted on how you are doing. i hope to get my surgery sometime this summer....keep in touch and good luck tomorrow!

i second that...woo hoo nurses! i think we all should get flowers for nurses week coming up.....!

this is amazing, im so glad that i started this thread. its wonderful to read where everyone is from and the different areas. hopefully more will appear as the days go on..... kimberly

Hi Everyone!! Some info about me: I live in Sharon and moved here 1.5 years ago from Oklahoma (yep, it was for a guy). I work at a hospital in Boston and plan to have surgery hopefully this summer at Brigham and Women's with Dr. Lautz. I see him on the 8th of May and am praying things go smoothly. I have BCBS of MA and from what people are saying they are pretty on the ball to get you approved. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding the in's and out's of this surgery including investigating the surgeon that will perform the procedure. I just want to say hello, introduce myself and would love to eventually attend the MA support groups that everyone is involved in....hope to see you around. kimberly

hey sueol... i am having my surgery at BW hopefully this summer. I am a registered nurse and trust me, ive check out every facility and chose this location to have my surgery. I really think you made a great decision. I chose Dr. Lautz because of his credentials which I thoroughly checked out with the state board of medical licensure. He has an excellent reputation, is board certified and is the director of the bariatric center at BW. I think things will go well for you. kim

I cannot wait to be able to wear high HIGH heels...I think they are sooooooooo sexy. Because Ive been so overweight all of my adult life, instead of spending money on clothes that I hated to shop for, I bought shoes....and shoes..and more shoes. I have more heels than I could ever even begin to wear. What does someone do with 22 pairs of black heels??? (that doesnt count the OTHER colors I have). My significant other loves the "f**k me heels as he calls them just been to fat to be able to walk around in them...Im gonna get there someday and wear all these freaking shoes!!! (yeah, I know, its jacked-up but what am I gonna do?????)

It is a great idea if you take a few minutes to look up your physician thru the State Board of Medical Licensure in the state you are having your surgery in. All you have to do once you access the site is type in their name etc, and it will pull up their records. It will list any malpractice or complaints that have been filed against their medical license. This is a great tool to use for ANY physician you are seeing.

Hey Allison!! I love living in Sharon, its a great community. They are planning on building a huge mall not too far from the cinema's and if you have been over by Gillette stadium, boy will you see some changes... anyways, my surgeon is Dr. Lautz at Brigham Women's. I did so much research on the area's surgeons including contacting the state board of medical licensure to look at his record. He is the director of the bariatric center there. I have my first appt with him on May 8th and I cant wait.....keep me posted on your progress and let me know when you are having surgery. kim

ok...lets talk vomiting here..... I understand that you basically have 'two stomachs' now. The upper one is the banded area, then you have the lower one. Now here is my question and Im so sorry for being so graphic, but Ive got to know this...here goes!! When you have the flu, or have food poisoning, you vomit. So, knowing that what is in your upper stomach eventually moves down into your lower stomach, when you vomit, does the stuff from the lower stomach go back up into the upper stomach? And since that passage is so narrow with restriction, doesn't it hurt like a bitch?? Im picturing some really intense moments here with this. Scary in fact. Has anyone experienced this?

i wasnt referring to vomiting because of overeating, too tight of a band etc..i was talking about puking due to the flu. I want to hear from someone that has had the flu (the puking kind) while they have restriction...come on people!! I know someone out there that has had the pukes from the flu!! Give it up!

hey girl...im not too far from you, I live in sharon MA!! hello hello! kim

Never....im totally with you..I received a private email from this guy slamming me big time. There is something wrong with him, there truly is. I did contact the site and reported him as well as put him on my ignore list. He was verbally abusive, ignorant and hateful. This guy has some serious issues and I felt it was best not to even answer his private email to me....anyway, glad we are in the same ballpark. Thanks for the post.

Just a little FYI for the group... Ive received a somewhat disturbing private email from Headhunter that I feel is derogatory, inapropriate and abusive that I have reported. Just be careful people. We are all here for the same cause; to get healthy, get support and to learn. Obviously some of our opinions have evoked some physiological hiccups in this guy and its concerning to me....again, just be careful...let him have his anger and dont feed into it.

Head...I think everyone gets your message here... You are overweight, you made the decision to have LB surgery (and by the way, its not considered a 'major surgery' by surgical standards) you signed the forms and understood the risks going in....developed complications, you lost your insurance because of a job change or termination, you found that no one would help you b/c you didnt have money to pay, and you probably waited too long to seek help and now you expect all of the hundreds of people on here that have had success, did their homework, were aware of the risks and complications, paid for their surgery to think what they have done was the wrong thing for them to do? You are choosing to seek financial gain in all of this. I think you made your point and can see from the multiple posts that the majority of posts on here are in agreement, that it is a self-responsibility....maybe you should just contact the posts on here that are supporting you, and quit responding negatively to members posts that are giving their opinions, oh yeah, that YOU self initiated here. See the common denominator here?

can anyone say....'psych consult' for anger managment here?

oh and by the way...i do legal nurse consulting and this case will be exremely difficult to file a malpractice law suit on. Nothing in your email shows intent, and there is a sense of personal responsibilty here that is an issue as well. Hematomas/infections/malfunctions happen. Once the device is removed, they can determine product malfunction but if that is not the case, it is 'body' malfunction. This is no different than a kidney being rejected in a transplant....you think those patients are eligble to sue their physician and hospital because the kidney was no good, or their body rejected? If you cant pay the $$, physicians are under no obligation to see you...its the world we live in with a country that is insurance based health care. This was an ELECTIVE procedure. ELECTIVE. You chose, you take the risks involved. Good luck in getting any financial compensation for this. And FYI, some attorneys, when they see they are not going to get $$ from the corporations that they are suing, will bill you for time spent.

Not sure where the 'statistics' that this physician is getting, but according to the national institure of health, the stats are extrememly LOW on complications of this type of surgery. It is definately everyones responsibility to know the risks but statistically the risks are much high (mobidity and mortality) for the obese individual. It is everyones responsibility to understand the signs and symptoms of possible problems that occur. No procedure is without complications and there is a risk for band slippage and erosion, but the thing that makes this safer is that it is not an invasive procedure on the stomach. I do find it funny how this doctor is afraid for his life, in speaking out. That is a concern in itself. Not because he will find himself blown up in a car, but the medical community has an obligation to speak out on something that is medically wrong. Again, Im not sure where he is getting his statistics, but the numbers are way low on this procedure. It is a money making procedure, just like plastic surgery is, but it is a tool to help people in getting healthy. Stastically thousands and thousands of people have had this surgery done successfully. You just happen to be one of the unlucky ones. Again, it is our responsibility to be aware of symptoms that can indicate problems. I cant imagine not knowing that a piece of material is not eating its way thru my stomach, and ignoring the symptoms for so long. That type of problem does not go un-noticed. It is our responsibility to do the reseach not only on the surgery, but the physician and facility as well. I appreciate the fact that you are 'warning' the public about this, but unfortunately you are one of the low numbers of people that had an adverse reaction to this procedure. David I hope that you heal and get better. Im so sorry that you are going thru this. Im glad you are getting the help that you need and wish for a speedy recovery