Calling all nurses!

[jennolsen 140]

Any nurses out there pre or post op want to share their stories? I am a nurse and am a little apprehensive to share too much at work for the fear of being judged. These days there are more and more fat nurses and majority of my coworkers are super fit and have impeccable eating habits and cannot relate with my struggles. Any stories or suggestions would be appreciated.

[laura4923 137]

Hello fellow RN!!

I am a nurse working in a hospital that performs WLS. There are many staff members that have had VGS which makes it helpful.

I just completed my last of my 6 month required MD supervised diet and exercise program today!! I meet with my surgeon for my preop visit on Thursday and his RN tomorrow for teaching. They will submit to insurance on Friday for final approval.

I have a tentative surgery date of August 25th!!

I am so excited!! It's been a long 6 months. I have a lot of support from the fellow sleevers as well as from staff that know I'm having the surgery. My BMI is 40.

Where are you at in this WLS process?

[gdnplnty 2]

Hello! :-)

While not a nurse, I do work in a hospital in the admissions department, and love the fantastic team that I have. Today, it seemed that it was really hard for me to just get thru it. I was struggling a bit, after all, go to 'lunch' and you are surrounded by p eople actually eatting food, and I am not (in my preop liquid stage). I felt at one point, I had to wipe the drool from my face before I made a mess on the table. Instead of me sitting there, bummed, and one of the nurses came, grabbed me and said hey lets go for a walk. It felt wonderful.

I go on FMLA Saturday, and to say that I have had a tremendous support, well, it is overwhelming. I guess working for a very small hospital in a small town with a 8 bed ED, 20 bed facilty, means that we get along pretty well.

Ironically, this is not the same with my family. To them, this is a terrible thing that I am doing.

[Nurse 52 94]

Hi RN here I was sleeved on July 13 and went back to work July 27. I did not tell my co-workers about my plans. I work in a Psych hospital on a intensive care unit and we are always busy with codes you name it. Im down 30 lbs so far and I feel great. When I went back I was still on full liquids so the pre made Premier Protein shakes came in handy

[anahajara 16]

RN here. I told a few people at work about my surgery. I was going to keep it quiet, but I felt like a fraud when people asked what I was doing. Lol. Quite a few others nurses had the surgery and everyone was supportive and congratulatory about making a life style change.

[AlanaRN 419]

I'm an ER RN. I'm 10 months out. Had to take 6 weeks off because of the lifting and moving that we do. Everyone at work knows and knew about my surgery. My co workers have all been extremely supportive. I've never felt judged at all. They have been a huge part of this process for me.

[wantingabetterlife 364]

You may just be surprised! The best environment you can be in post-op is surrounded by people that eat right and work out, think no doughnuts at the nurses station You never know, any one of them may have had the same weight loss struggles at one time! You are trying to take control of your life and get healthy. I would never judge someone for that.

[anniesebring 11]

I'm an RN in CCU. My gastric bypass was on July 29th. The only person at work that knows why I'm off is my boss. I'm sure when I go back significantly lighter (already down 22lbs) people are going to have questions. Honestly I'm not sure how I'm going to answer. It's really difficult because I'm scared of the responses and feeling judged, but I guess the fear of comorbities is worse.

[Fluffypal 13]

I'm a Radiology procedure nurse and work with 2 other nurses who are slim, eat healthy, and exercise. I was hoping working with them that I would absorb their good habits but haven't in the last 2 years. My VGS will be on the 24th and I think they will be excellent support post op because no one ever brings bad things to our department to eat. Looking forward to the journey.

[Justme24 69]

I'm an RN working inpatient care and was sleeved in Nov. 2014. I didn't tell anyone; I still feel a sense of embarrassment that (in my mind) I was so heavy and had failed so many times trying to correct it, that I needed the surgery. I know that some of my thinking on this is skewed, but that's just how I felt, so I just told my manager and colleagues that I was having elective surgery - they probably knew what it was, but I never actually discussed it with anyone.

I transferred from one hospital to another 3 months after the surgery, so neither group has seen me lose the whole 90 lbs that I've now lost. I'm so happy that I've had the surgery, really, and even though I NEVER had weight just drop off, I have plugged away with slow steady weight loss and it just feels so good (even tho I'm not at goal yet). As I approach goal, I become more and more scared about maintenance, because for pretty-much my entire adult life I have periodically succeeded at weight loss but never maintenance. Coming here really helps, and I hope that having a presence on this forum will assist me in maintaining this weight loss.

Best of luck to you!

[jennolsen 140]

Hello fellow RN!!

I am a nurse working in a hospital that performs WLS. There are many staff members that have had VGS which makes it helpful.

I just completed my last of my 6 month required MD supervised diet and exercise program today!! I meet with my surgeon for my preop visit on Thursday and his RN tomorrow for teaching. They will submit to insurance on Friday for final approval.

I have a tentative surgery date of August 25th!!

I am so excited!! It's been a long 6 months. I have a lot of support from the fellow sleevers as well as from staff that know I'm having the surgery. My BMI is 40.

Where are you at in this WLS process?

Laura

I just scheduled surgery for September 14th. Thanks for replying!

[jennolsen 140]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I work in a small facility and the nearest hospital with a program is 1.5 hours away so it's certainly not common for people to see. I feel that being a well educated health care provider I should be able to do this the "right" way. So I have some guilt about that. I just really need some help to get on the right track.

[Court3625 12]

10 year RN here. I had the sleeve this past Friday, August 7.

I understand the feeling of guilt. I told my surgeon that I can give lots of nutrition information and suggestions to my patients but don't always listen to my own advice. I had the lap-band place in May, 2011 and removed December, 2014. I was sure that I could continue to lose weight on my own. I gained about 40 pounds and felt like such a failure. I am one of those people who has decided to only tell my family about getting the sleeve. I have no regrets so far but the fact that I needed another surgery is too embarrassing to share with others. Maybe someday I'll share with others but I'm not at that point yet and I'm ok with that.

-C

[rnsamantha 352]

I'm a nurse practitioner (former ICU RN), and had my sleeve 6/25/2015. I work in an office now and fortunately all my co-workers have been very supportive. I felt like a hypocrite dispensing nutrition advice while being obese. I certainly tried the diet and exercise approach (repeatedly!) as I'm sure all of us did but was never able to maintain the loss. I think getting healthier is something to be proud of, no matter what way you did it surgery or otherwise! There are many overweight/obese RNs and you shouldn't feel ashamed of having WLS just because you work in healthcare ????