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Freaking out...



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Okay, admittedly, today has been a little bit of a day... so bear with me.

Today started out great - only one more week until my surgery. I"ve been walking well for 3 weeks and knew I'd get weighed again today and that I'm sure to lose weight.

Then I get a call at noon that my mom has had a heart attack while driving on a highway and got in a wreck trying to pull her car off.

Okay - good feeling gone at that point. Freak out mode begins.

I drive like a maniac to the hospital, calling frantically all the way. Turns out, she's fine. She's alive. She's fine.

She had 100% blockage of one of her arteries which they opened with a stint and will do another 95% blocked one in a couple days.

Okay. Phew. Good feeling back. Time for my doctor's appointmetn with my PCP to get the final green light for surgery.

I go through the routine questions. He compliments me for taking charge of my life with this surgery. Good feeling really going on now.

So, he's doing his stethascope thing and his nodding thing when I told him about the day that I've had with my mom. Really, he says. He asks if I've had any shortness of breath.

No, well, only when I'm excercising.

Have you had any problems with sweating?

Well, now that you mention it, I sweat like a pig pretty much all the time.

Really. Uh-huh.

Okay... good feeling starting to go now...

So. He wants me to go for a stress test tomorrow to make sure I"m healthy enough for weight loss surgery. If ever there was a contridiction in terms, I've never seen one.

So crap. Now I'm freaking out. WHat if I FLUNK my stress test and can't get my band on Friday? I think I'll just keel over.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

P.S. - I DID lose 3 more pounds last week...

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Wow! Thank God your Mom is okay. I know you want your band like yesterday, but it is better that you are healthy for surgery so nothing goes wrong. I will pray that everything goes well for you on your stress test and that your mom recovers well.

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I wouldn't sweat the stress test. A lot of folks have to have one. I didn't, but only because I had already had one about a month before I decided on the lapband. And the sweating....uh, I haven't met many overweight people who DON'T sweat up a storm.

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Well, thank you. That's very reassuring. It's been a sh((ty day so permit me to freak a bit.

I've been walking a mile and a half, 30 minutes a day for 3 weeks. If I were to croak from clogged veins it would've been 3 weeks ago. So, thank you, I"m starting to feel better.

This raises a question, however. Why don't doctors just check arteries regularly to see how clogged they are? My mom's 1 artery was 100% blocked and had another 95% blocked (whatever that means... can't be good.)

Every heart attack story I hear starts with "arteries blocked..." so I dunno. Let's also say for arguments sake that my arteries are 80% clogged with cheeseburgers, gravy and bacon grease. Then I have lapband and then I lose 100 pounds. Does that make the clog better?

I guess these are all medical questions and I intend to ask them, but this forum has been 100% right on for everything so far so I'll give you all the benefit of answering...

:help:

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I am happy to hear that your mom is O.K.! I am sure that your body was just reacting to the stress and the crappy day that you had been on. Just try to relax and you will do great!

Good luck to you!!

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And you are how old? Well, I've been checked and have zero blockage after 45 years of bodily abuse. A lot of it is diet (cholesterol, etc.) and some is genetics. I really wouldn't worry about it. Your doctor is just being cautious.

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Okay, admittedly, today has been a little bit of a day... so bear with me.

Today started out great - only one more week until my surgery. I"ve been walking well for 3 weeks and knew I'd get weighed again today and that I'm sure to lose weight.

Then I get a call at noon that my mom has had a heart attack while driving on a highway and got in a wreck trying to pull her car off.

Okay - good feeling gone at that point. Freak out mode begins.

I drive like a maniac to the hospital, calling frantically all the way. Turns out, she's fine. She's alive. She's fine.

She had 100% blockage of one of her arteries which they opened with a stint and will do another 95% blocked one in a couple days.

Okay. Phew. Good feeling back. Time for my doctor's appointmetn with my PCP to get the final green light for surgery.

I go through the routine questions. He compliments me for taking charge of my life with this surgery. Good feeling really going on now.

So, he's doing his stethascope thing and his nodding thing when I told him about the day that I've had with my mom. Really, he says. He asks if I've had any shortness of breath.

No, well, only when I'm excercising.

Have you had any problems with sweating?

Well, now that you mention it, I sweat like a pig pretty much all the time.

Really. Uh-huh.

Okay... good feeling starting to go now...

So. He wants me to go for a stress test tomorrow to make sure I"m healthy enough for weight loss surgery. If ever there was a contridiction in terms, I've never seen one.

So crap. Now I'm freaking out. WHat if I FLUNK my stress test and can't get my band on Friday? I think I'll just keel over.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

P.S. - I DID lose 3 more pounds last week...

Ok, first of all, I am so glad your Mom is ok. It could have gone the other way. That would upset me too!!! Bless both of you. They decided to make me take a stress test at the last minute. Due to my joint problems, I had to have a nucular stress text. I honestly tought I would not make it out alive!!! But I got through ok and my ticker is in great shape. They are doing this because of what happened to your Mom. Don't want the same thing happening to you. Post me and let me know what happens.

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Claramae et. al.,

Yes, the test went fine. As usual, I was probably making more of it than I needed to, but all things considered, I'll take it.

That was NOT what I was expecting a stress test to be. Man, they really jumped your heart up there. And that sonogram - wow. I didn't know if they were looking at my heart or checking my third tri-mester...

Since my doctor hasn't yet called me in a panic, I'm going to assume all went well. The cardiologist doing the test said I was fine.

Thanks for not letting me jump to the wrong conclusions!!!

Onward.... :eek:

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      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.
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