Tuesday was the first time we went to the MV Support group. With my past experiences with support groups, I was NOT looking forward to this experience...
I did Diet Workshop from the time I was 20 or so and eventually worked there for 9 years (where I went from a beginning weight of 116 to 180). I was taught all of the bad food habits that I currently have, thank you very much! After that, I joined Weight Watchers and had a fairly successful run (went from 210 to 150) once the weight started creeping back on, I rejoined several times.
I have to confess, I can't walk into a weight loss group without mentally rolling my eyes! I felt like I have heard it all way too many times and I just don't have any enthusiasm for the process. I do realize that attending support groups more than doubles your chance to be successful and all, but (you should see me sitting here rolling my eyes trying to come up with an apt description) but YUCK! As the saying goes, I have so been there, done that - and literally have several T-shirts.
One of the things that I am fortunate to know about weight loss is that a persons maiden voyage with a program is likely to give their best results. People we call "Virgins" are far more enthusiastic about the process and don't second guess everything. They spend more time reading their diet and following the rules word for word, letter to letter. After that maiden voyage, you start to think that you "KNOW" this and that you know it better than the experts.
I used to catch myself feeling so jealous of new virgins in my classes and would try to catch their enthusiasm.
Fast forward to 2011...I am on my maiden voyage in WLS and I don't want to mess this up. (In the WLS community they call it the honeymoon phase.) So if they tell me to go to a support group, I'm getting my butt there...not without allot of eye-rolling though!
So I found my jaded self walking into a support meeting that had about 50 people in it. It wasn't as professionally put together as Weight Watchers, with no canned hype - but the people there probably were all like me and didn't want that bull-crap. The thing that got me right out of the gate was when they announced the total weight loss for the group was like 3000 plus pounds! So that's like 60 lbs per person, and there were several new guys there who haven't started on the losers side yet.
A psychologist did about an hour talk on mindless eating and one of the participants mentioned something that made a light go off in my head - she ate to numb her feelings....which I soooo do! I had never put it into words, but sad, bored, stressed...and carbs are so effective for numbing. I can tell that I am definitely going to have to work on that. In fact I need to look into working with a therapist to figure this out!
Anyway, then we broke up into groups of the various surgery types: Roux en Y, LapBand, Sleeve and Duodendal Switch. Our group was talking about how to get more protein in and how that has to be the most important food that we will be eating - forever.
I'm pretty sure N didn't want to talk at all there, and I was just fine with that, but we raised our hands when the leader asked if there were anyone new (I'm pretty sure she knew we were new, she hadn't seen us before!) and then I asked what he and I had been asking ourselves since we met with the surgeon, "What happens between our insurance approval and surgery?" Well, first of all they misunderstood what I was asking and I got lots of help with the insurance approval process. Finally I did get out of them that after the approval we will be scheduled a day of tests and meetings where we'll be informed of information for the pre-surgery process and rest of our lives. Well, I felt better once I got that answer as I had no idea of the process and nobody had told either of us.
Anyway, N did actually ask a question, I'm sorry, I can't remember what the question was but the point was that he did feel comfortable enough to ask in the group. All said, it was a very good meeting! Everyone was very nice and eager to help us and everyone else.
I'm glad that I went!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Appointment with the Surgeon
So my next step on my WLS journey is to visit my chosen surgeon, Dr. Maguire. I had an appointment last Friday. Part of me (the one that still thinks that I'm thin) wondered if he would tell me that I don't qualify for the surgery! Talk about living in the dark...I am the polar opposite of an Anorexic, in my head I still see myself as thin whereas Anorexics still see themselves as fat.
He suggested that I have the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Mostly because it's been the most successful for the longest time. He said that I would probably lose 80% of the weight that I need to lose and that this surgery had a 96% chance of resolving my diabetes! Also, this particular surgery (as opposed to the Lap Band or the Vertical Sleeve) had a better chance to maintain my weight loss.
We've all heard/known people who had the surgery and have gained their weight back. And of course, (just like I said when my kids were little about the possibility of them becoming drug users when they got to be teens) I said, "That won't happen to me, I won't let it." Which made me remember that I really need to back up that thought with a plan of what to do so it wouldn't happen to me! At least I can learn from the kids/drugs experience :-( So I checked out some books at the library about WLS and have been reading everything that I can get my hands on to try to get that plan in place before the surgery.
Since the appointment I realise now from reading these books that I should have asked the doctor a bunch of questions - that I really didn't know. So now I'm going to have to back-pedal a bit to find out all of those answers! More on that later (I guess!)
Thanks for reading - I'll check in with more info as it develops...
~ barb
He suggested that I have the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Mostly because it's been the most successful for the longest time. He said that I would probably lose 80% of the weight that I need to lose and that this surgery had a 96% chance of resolving my diabetes! Also, this particular surgery (as opposed to the Lap Band or the Vertical Sleeve) had a better chance to maintain my weight loss.
We've all heard/known people who had the surgery and have gained their weight back. And of course, (just like I said when my kids were little about the possibility of them becoming drug users when they got to be teens) I said, "That won't happen to me, I won't let it." Which made me remember that I really need to back up that thought with a plan of what to do so it wouldn't happen to me! At least I can learn from the kids/drugs experience :-( So I checked out some books at the library about WLS and have been reading everything that I can get my hands on to try to get that plan in place before the surgery.
Since the appointment I realise now from reading these books that I should have asked the doctor a bunch of questions - that I really didn't know. So now I'm going to have to back-pedal a bit to find out all of those answers! More on that later (I guess!)
Thanks for reading - I'll check in with more info as it develops...
~ barb
The Beginning
Over the past 30 (or so) years, I have yo-yo dieted myself from 105 lbs. to 220 lbs. and have decided that dieting is a bad thing. So much so that my reaction to the thought of going on a diet is like a reaction to receiving a bee sting - I will do most anything to avoid the pain. I've tried joining groups, doing it on my own and following programs online...
I've developed type 2 diabetes and since then, you'd think I'd have lost some weight...but no, the bee-sting issue is still very much an instinct.
For those of you who don't have diabetes, I am exhausted 90% of the time and the rest of the time, I don't have any energy. (For instance, it took me 3 months to remove the old wallpaper in my bathroom and repaint it!) When I get sick with a cold or virus, my recovery time is about twice it was before the onset of diabetes.
I hate it.
My insurance has never covered weight loss surgery (WLS for short) but when I lost my job last fall, I had to go on my husband's insurance and his does cover it! Once I discovered that, I still debated it as it's always felt like such a drastic thing to do - not to mention the mortality rate felt way too high for an elective surgery. (Plus those out there that have known me for awhile will remember that my late husband died during stomach surgery!)
My husband (who is probably horrified to be mentioned on the Internet, so I'll just call him "N" to keep him anonymous - love ya honey!) also is obese and interested in the surgery as well. We thought that if we did this thing together, we'd stand a much better chance at being successful.
We did some research and decided on Miami Valley Biartrics since my husband likes Miami Valley Hospital and Dr. Maguire (head surgeon there) did my gall bladder surgery years ago. We went to a group informational meeting and discovered that most of the WLS out there is now done laproscopically rather than the traditionally performed surgery giving a MUCH lower mortality rate. Here is their link: http://www.miamivalleyhospital.org/mvhservices.aspx?id=10358.
Still we didn't decide to do it right away. For me, the idea of this is like looking at a boxer and say, "Go ahead hit me in my gut." But, then I read an article in our local paper (I am sorry that I can't find the link to it for you readers!) that had a headline:
TYPE 2 DIABETES CAN BE ALMOST AS DAMAGING AS SMOKING
Basically it said that from a study of over 820,000 people published in the New England Journal of Medicine some one with type 2 is more than twice as likely to die of cardiovascular disease and 25% more likely to die of cancer than those without diabetes! It went on to say that a 50-year old with type 2 diabetes will lose and average of SIX years of life as a result of the disease! SIX years!
Okay! Let me just say that I'm now on the WLS bandwagon.
In order for it to be approved by our insurance we have to jump through some hoops though. We have to document our attempt to lose weight with our family doctor. Plus see a psychologist, a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist.
My first appointment with my surgeon is this Friday and I'll let you know what happens after that.
thanks for listening....
~barb
I've developed type 2 diabetes and since then, you'd think I'd have lost some weight...but no, the bee-sting issue is still very much an instinct.
For those of you who don't have diabetes, I am exhausted 90% of the time and the rest of the time, I don't have any energy. (For instance, it took me 3 months to remove the old wallpaper in my bathroom and repaint it!) When I get sick with a cold or virus, my recovery time is about twice it was before the onset of diabetes.
I hate it.
My insurance has never covered weight loss surgery (WLS for short) but when I lost my job last fall, I had to go on my husband's insurance and his does cover it! Once I discovered that, I still debated it as it's always felt like such a drastic thing to do - not to mention the mortality rate felt way too high for an elective surgery. (Plus those out there that have known me for awhile will remember that my late husband died during stomach surgery!)
My husband (who is probably horrified to be mentioned on the Internet, so I'll just call him "N" to keep him anonymous - love ya honey!) also is obese and interested in the surgery as well. We thought that if we did this thing together, we'd stand a much better chance at being successful.
We did some research and decided on Miami Valley Biartrics since my husband likes Miami Valley Hospital and Dr. Maguire (head surgeon there) did my gall bladder surgery years ago. We went to a group informational meeting and discovered that most of the WLS out there is now done laproscopically rather than the traditionally performed surgery giving a MUCH lower mortality rate. Here is their link: http://www.miamivalleyhospital.org/mvhservices.aspx?id=10358.
Still we didn't decide to do it right away. For me, the idea of this is like looking at a boxer and say, "Go ahead hit me in my gut." But, then I read an article in our local paper (I am sorry that I can't find the link to it for you readers!) that had a headline:
TYPE 2 DIABETES CAN BE ALMOST AS DAMAGING AS SMOKING
Basically it said that from a study of over 820,000 people published in the New England Journal of Medicine some one with type 2 is more than twice as likely to die of cardiovascular disease and 25% more likely to die of cancer than those without diabetes! It went on to say that a 50-year old with type 2 diabetes will lose and average of SIX years of life as a result of the disease! SIX years!
Okay! Let me just say that I'm now on the WLS bandwagon.
In order for it to be approved by our insurance we have to jump through some hoops though. We have to document our attempt to lose weight with our family doctor. Plus see a psychologist, a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist.
My first appointment with my surgeon is this Friday and I'll let you know what happens after that.
thanks for listening....
~barb
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