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Who is your intended surgeon?

I was looking at VCU but in doing more research I think I have to go to St. Mary's. I have UHC and I'm not sure if I have to use one of their "centers of excellence" or not so that would limit where I go. I called UHC and the surgery is part of my plan but I have to call their bariatric resource center tomorrow to find out more. They do more sleeves at St. Mary's I think so it's probably better either way. On a weird side note, I need to figure out how tall I am. I always thought I was 5'3 but I guess I should make sure so my BMI is accurate...

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Yeah.. You gotta watch that height thing.. I thought I was 5'3 too.. Then they measured me and I was 5'3.5.. That .5 made the difference of being at or above 40bmi (which I have Uhc too and they like to have most patients at or above 40)

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I started my process at MCV and got to the final month before switching to St.Marys. The surgeon was extremely biased towards bypass and continuously pressured me to change my mind despite my clear request not to hear another word about it. I had no co-morbidities and no need to full bypass. When he wouldn't tell me how many sleeves he'd done, that was a huge flag. His nurse finally broke down and told me it was about 70 and that scared me.

The final straw was when, at my four month check up ( I had to see him every month for six months), he asked me why I had gained 3 pounds. Uhm... Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years was in between my three and four month appointment, I wasn't on my preop, and I thought I'd done pretty damn good for a fat girl. Meanwhile, he looked like he had swallowed a VW Bug. Argh!

Never went back.

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I was looking at VCU but in doing more research I think I have to go to St. Mary's. I have UHC and I'm not sure if I have to use one of their "centers of excellence" or not so that would limit where I go. I called UHC and the surgery is part of my plan but I have to call their bariatric resource center tomorrow to find out more. They do more sleeves at St. Mary's I think so it's probably better either way. On a weird side note' date=' I need to figure out how tall I am. I always thought I was 5'3 but I guess I should make sure so my BMI is accurate...[/quote']

Hi I'm Richmond as well and have a surgery. Date of august 22. Like u I have UHC and it took a matter of days to call and find out I had been approved for surgery. I am going to have mine done by Dr. Carmody at with St. Mary's and from the meeting I just attended, a preop meeting with bariatric nurse, I heard it is awesome place to have surgery. I am a absolute St. Marys hospital lover anyway...so it only made since for me to go there. Good luck!

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Welcome Nikki.. I hope that your surgery goes well.. I can't wait to have a date.. I hope soon..

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Welcome Nikki.. I hope that your surgery goes well.. I can't wait to have a date.. I hope soon..

Thank you.....you will have a date as sooner than you think!

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I live in Richmond and I was originally going to go with one of the surgeons at St. Marys, but ended up going with Dr. Brengman. I have two more appointments to go before I send in paper work!

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I live in Richmond and I was originally going to go with one of the surgeons at St. Marys' date=' but ended up going with Dr. Brengman. I have two more appointments to go before I send in paper work![/quote']

I wanted Dr. Schroder...but my insurance would have charged me more. Dr. Brengman is awesome from what I hear. Good luck too you.

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Hi everyone! I had surgery last year 8/6/12 with Dr Brengman, I had the surgery at St Mary's. it was the best thing I have ever done. Love Brengman and Dt Mary's. I have lost 130 pounds in one year. If you have any questions I am happy to answer. I wish you each the best.

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I live in mechanicsville and will be having my surgery at St. Mary's and preformed by Dr. Carmody. I have to wait till December because I'm a teacher but still so excited to finally be making this change.

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I live in Mechanicsville Va. Surgery will be at St. Mary's and preformed by Dr. Carmody.

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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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