Nurses

[JerseyGirl80 12]

I'm not a nurse but I am in health care. I'm a medical coder, so from reading charts and having alot of medical knowledge, it may have pushed me a little more towards getting the surgery. When I see patient charts (on a daily basis) that are extremely over weight, suffering from co-morbidities and on tons of medications and they are only in their 40's or 50's it's really frightening. I see them getting CABG's or I see that they are on dialysis and this scares the hell out of me, I don't want to be there one day because of something I did to myself.

From having both of my parents die too young from diseases that could have been avoided was also another big push in this direction. My mother was in a nursing home at 52 wearing a diaper, paralyzed on one side from strokes, she had diabetes and early stage dementia, all caused by years of eating garbage, being morbidly obese and smoking. Suffering in a nursing home for 5 years at that age is not the way to go. My father was always sick from years of having a terrible diet, drinking and not controlling his high blood pressure. Having a massive heart attack at 67 and having it cause end stage renal failure and dying 8 months later just seems too young for me and something I want to avoid, if I can.

So to me, having the medical backround and knowledge of the procedure did help me make the decision to do this. I'm actually surprised more people in the medical field don't do it. From seeing first hand the damage the weight and unhealthy lifestyle can to do a body, it's a wonder more of us don't get scard straight, or scared skinny... Knowing what this procedure can do and how it's done and all that other stuff was enough for me to get up and do it.

[kimhudd 0]

I am also a nurse,,ER. I think the band in our view point is relatively safe proceedure and most of know the surgeons. I would like to know how nurses do as far as changing eating habits. Shoveling food down in a 30 minute break can be tough with the band,,,any one have troubles wth this?

[mattie7632 24]

There's a LOT of people in healthcare on this board! Me too!...I own a med billing co---

[Whey ready 1]

Kim- I too am an er nurse and its hard making the time some nights to be like "ok I'm gonna go eat my dinner now", expecially last night when I had 2 cprs (both survived, yay!) A near delivery, and an intubation hold...so sometimes I set an alarm on my phone at the desk and when it goes off if I can get away I run and try to take at least 15 min...otherwise I hit the snoose button and when it goes off in 10 more min I can normally run then...my co workers think I go to text by bf bc his ring tone is the same, but hey...whatever works. I have also learned that after the smokers go out for their 10 min break and leave me and one other nurse in the er that its time for my 10 min break...and since some find a way to go out 10 times a shift if I eat 1/10th my dinner at a time it gets done

[Vinella 0]

I think as nurses we suffer from a lot of dysfunctional backgrounds making us the ideal caregivers. Most of the nurses I know are people pleasers and put others needs first over our own. As someone else said we understand it's the least extreme of the weight loss surgeries with a very good outcome. We're the worst when it comes to "Do as I say, not as I do." I think anyway. Nice to meet you all.

[ravendays 2]

While Im not a nurse I do dispatch for an ambulance company =P and before that I was a 911 Central dispatcher for neighboring county sheriff's department. Public Service is the name of the game, where shift work is part of life, overtime is abundant, working holidays is usually a must, social lives are a bit absent at times, and family are always getting told "im sorry I wish I could but I gotta go into work tonight". I work graves for the most part and 12 hr shifts are long time to sit stationary. When you are unable to get breaks to leave property you are stuck with *drum roll please* delivery! I think they have it as a requirement that if its delivery it cant be healthy =) So expensive too!

I was on the fluffy side coming into this career but I did tend to expand the fluffiness to a heff-ish state and now...full on heffer status =( I'm busy but never active....does jumping for the phone burn as many calories as a jumping jack? Just curious lol

[BASIMAH 9]

Hello fellow nurses, I am a detox nurse at a substance abuse facility in Chicago. I think nurses are high prone to gain lots of weight. High stress, long hours and a unhealthy diet of take-out and donuts. I work third shift (11pm-7:30am) and I gained tons of weight just eating on my shift. Night eating is the worst! I'm sceduled to get my band on 1/27 and am on day 10 of the pre-op diet. As nurses, it's common for us to care for others while ignoring our own needs.

[Andytim08 7]

I am a newer nurse and have been working in Outpatient Surgery at a hospital which is a Bariatric Surgey Center of Excellence. I have been on the chubby side my whole life, and even while being in the military for 10 years (not as a nurse), it was very hard for me to make weight every 6 months for weigh-in. I could pass the run portion of the 6 month physical fitness test with flying colors; but my weight, majority of the time, was either right on the line for "max weight" or well over. Now that I am in my mid 30's it is not as easy to lose the weight. Back to the nursing question- I had thought about Lap Band before but it was not until I started working at my current job did I decide to actually get it myself. Every week I have at least 6 or 7 "banders". I also talked to some of the surgeons on a regular basis.I then started doing my research, picked a surgeon, and finished all the pre surgery criteria and got approved. Now I just have to schedule my surgery, which I will do on tuesday. I believe that my knowledge and experience with patients who had the surgery was my deciding factor...........