Carnie's story was incredible! She was so beautiful, but more importantly, she was very happy. She shared openly about her journey, from consultation with her surgeon to successful weight loss patient. The picture she painted was quite wonderful... I was convinced this would be the right thing for me.
I began researching Carnie's procedure online. Many of the sites I found were horror stories of bungled and unsuccesful surgeries. It seemed Carnie had forgotten to mention the negative aspects of weight loss surgery. There were many stories about nutritional deficiencies causing hair loss, skin disorders, organ diseases and loss of bone density (one story told of a woman's teeth crumbling like powder). Well, this was obviously NOT a choice I wanted to make for my life. I had enough problems without creating additional health problems. So, I decided I'd try Weight Watchers one more time.
Weight Watchers helped me lose about 12 lbs. in the first month. Then over the next month I saw all that weight come back on. I really felt like I was working hard at this. What was most difficult, though, was that I never felt satiated... no matter what I ate. Once again I had failed and I decided it wasn't worth it, "I'm never going to diet again!" Weight Watchers was my last ditch effort to avoid the drastic option of surgery. But here I was, a failure again. It was time to make that drastic decision.
I made an appointment with my primary doctor in March 2002, and he very willingly got me a referral to one of the local bariatric surgeons. My appointment with Dr. Ikramuddin, however, was not until October 31st. So I spent my time in the interim doing more online research. This time I avoided personal posts -- especially those that "had a friend that knew someone..." It was time to get first-hand information.
In my research I found an online support group on Yahoo groups called OSSGMN (Obesity Surgery Support Group of Minnesota). Most of the members were local Twin Citians. As I read through the member's posts,
I once again became inspired. Here I could read about the ups AND downs of this procedure. But even with a few downs, it seemed that everyone of the 1000+ members was a success story. A few of them did have complications post surgery. But, it seemed to be the concensus that, knowing how this surgery had changed their lives, every one of them would do it all over again.
Also posted on this site were the many support group meetings in the area; post-op and pre-op inclusive. I began attending the Renewal group in September 2002. These people were amazing. The stories they shared so openly, and the incredible successes of people at various points on their journeys -- I had made up my mind, this was right for me. We had so many similar life experiences... these people got me! They were smart, funny, open and caring. As one group member has stated many times,
"I finally found a village of my own people."
My New Journey Begins
At my intake appointment on Halloween, I got to meet my surgeon, Dr. Ikramuddin. After looking at my history and talking about options, he agreed with me that the Roux-en Y was the right procedure for me.
I called his secretary the next day and asked her to procede with getting approval from my insurance company. I called her about every two weeks for the next two months and finally, the first week of January 2003, I got my surgery date -- March 5th, which was then pushed back to the 31st.
Two days before surgery I had to do a bowel prep. For those of you who know what is involved with this, you'll understand when I say I lost my first 10 lbs. before the day of surgery. As the 31st approached, I was feeling nervous -- not about my choice to change my life this way, but because this was MAJOR surgery!
The day had arrived. My friend, Chris, took me to the hospital at 9:00 -- my procedure was scheduled for 11:30. A nurse took me back almost immediately to begin prep. She asked some general health questions, then another nurse came in and weighed me, and yet another came in to install my I.V. While I waited to be wheeled into the operating room, I sat and did some crosswords. I lost track of time as the clock in my prep room was not set right. Eventually, one of Dr. Ikramuddin's associates on my surgery team came in to inform me that Dr. I was running behind with his morning patient.
Finally, they came to take me to surgery. When they wheeled me into the ER I was still quite awake. The room was very large and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Everything was white, blue and chrome, and lots of intricate equipment in a semi-circle in the middle of the room. It seemed there were about 7 or 8 people in blue. I was wheeled into the middle of this circle and introduced to the anesthetist. One moment I was looking around at all the equipment and the bustling of the team, then the next I was waking up to see Dr. I's associate surgeon. He asked how I was feeling and let me know that the procedure was over and went very well, nothing unexpected, a textbook procedure.