One week into my new life

One week ago my new life began. Exactly one week ago today I had my keyhole gastric bypass surgery. I thought the moment would never come, but suddenly it was there. I had no doubts or tension on surgery day or the days leading up to surgery. In fact, I was feeling good about it and totally ready as you can see in the picture below. Don't I look cute in my surgery outfit? ;)

 

 

Surgery went well, I was discharged from the hospital the next day at 5.30 pm. My night at the hospital was looooong: I slept from 10.00 pm till midnight and after that I practically was awake all night. I had to use the toilet every hour and because I was still connected to the machine to check my heartbeat, oxygen level and blood pressure the night nurse had to come and unhook me every hour and then hook me up again after my visit to the bathroom. So I guess she had a busy night :)

 

I was happy to be home again, to be able to sleep in my own bed. This week has been all about recovery and taking it slow. I took painkillers untill Sunday evening, I felt I could handle it on Monday. I ate pureed food, soup, milk and yoghurt for the first 5 days I was at home and started adding unpureed food to my diet after that.

 

Up untill yesterday my belly felt as if I had had a tummy tuck, except I still had a fat tummy. The only discomfort I have now are the staples the surgeon used to close up the incisions he made for the keyhole surgery: they itch!!

Pre-Operative Screening

On Tuesday January 22nd I was scheduled for my pre-operative screening at the hospital and I had to be there at 7:30 am and my mom would go along for the ride. It was suppossed to snow the night before, so I made sure to pick up my mom at her house extra early. Turns out this wasn’t necessary, so we arrived at the hotel at 6:45 am!

At 7:30 am we were all given a card with a number: I got number 18. On the back of the card was my schedule for the day:
8:00-8:45 bloodwork
9:00 – 10:00 information meeting about the operation
11:30 appointment with morbid obesity nurse
11:45 appointment with surgeon
13:55 appointment with pharmacist
14:15 appointment with anaesthetist

All the appointments were on time, no delays whatsoever.  At the bloodwork they took 7 small tubes of blood and I was weighed (119,4 kilos). My blood was tested on a lot of things: bloodtype, glucose, sodium/potassium, creatinine, bilirubin, protein, vitamin B12, folic acid, TSH, fT4, parathyroid hormone and vitamine D.

The information meeting was hosted by a surgeon, anaesthesist and morbid obesity nurse. They all went into details on certain parts of the surgery: the surgeon explained both the gastric sleeve and the gastric bypass, the morbid obesity nurse elaborated on the preparation for surgery and recovery after surgery and the anaesthesist told us how the anaesthetic worked.

At my appointment with the morbid obesity nurse I finally found out why I was rejected by the NOK (they thought my weight was too low) and why the hospital made a different call: the surgeon had decided that I was a good candidate due to my thyroid problem and lower back problems. The nurse asked me which surgery I preferred and both she and the surgeon agreed with me that the gastric bypass would be the best choice for me since I have major sweet tooth and already suffer from heartburn almost daily.

The appointment with the pharmacist was basically to let them know what prescriptions I had, for the meeting with the anaesthesist my blood pressure was checked (perfect), I had to show her how wide I could open my mouth for the respirator and the anaesthesist asked me several questions. She finally gave me my final okay for surgery and I found out that my provisional surgery date is March 15th! That's in less than 7 weeks!!! Can I start freaking out now???

Tumultuous times ending with good news!

The last month has been very tumultuous for me. I mentioned in my last post how I was being impatient about not having my advice yet. By November 25th I was so stressed out I would start crying out of the blue, I got extremely anxious and was very tired because I couldn't sleep. I was so stressed that I had to call in sick at work, so I called my g.p. to see if there was anything I could doand he prescribed me with Oxazepam. Because oxazepam affects your driving ability I had to stay home from work for a week. I stayed home one week and after that I went back to work mornings for a week, I am now back working fulltime.

On November 26th I received a letter that crushed me: Vitalys wrote to tell that I was not suitable for operation and I had to contact my g.p. to hear the reason. So on to the g.p. I went on the 27th. Basically the NOK thought I hadn't tried enough to lose weight and I was told to go see a dietitian and I could come back in a year. Basically their advice was the complete opposite from what they told me on the day of my multidisciplinairy screening. 

Then on December 6th my p.g. called me out of the blue: he had received a letter from the hospital. The surgeon had discussed my case in a multidisciplinary team meeting and they had changed their minds and now I was positively adviced for surgery!

I don't know which surgery I will get, I'm hoping on a gastric bypass but it might be a sleeve. The hospital doesn't do a lot of banding. I'll have to wait and see. My pre-operative screening is on January 22nd and the preliminary phase leading up to my surgery start on January 28th.

Impatiently waiting

'Patience is good only when it is the shortest way to a good end; otherwise, impatience is better'

4 Weeks ago I had my multidisciplinary screening, the dietitian at the screening told me that I would hear from Vitalys within 3 to 4 weeks whether or not I would be operated. 4 Weeks came and went and I had no news. 

Being impatient and restless and becoming more and more sure that I would be rejected, so last week I already gave the NOK a call: they said they had sent their advice to Vitalys on November 1st. Because I still hadn't heared from them, I finally decided to give Vitalys a call today. The secretary said they received the advice yesterday: November 12th. The NOK and Vitalys are located across from the street from eachother, how can it take one letter 11 days to get there??? (I know, I'm being unreasonable...)

The advice is now on the surgeons desk, the secretary said it would probably take 2 weeks before I hear anything.

Multidisciplinary Screening

October 15th I woke up quite nervous: it was D-Day again. Time for my Multidisciplinary Screening. I had to be in Hilversum at 9 am on a Monday, this meant I had to drive there in the middle of rush hour. The alarm clock woke me up quite early, I picked up mom and we arrived perfectly on time at 8.45 am.

 Overall I  think the screening went okay, but you never know what 'the experts' think. Upon arriving I had to hand over my food diary and two photos. Then I was escorted to the waiting room where I saw the other 3 people that were there for the screening that morning.

My first meeting was with a nurse/care co-ordinator who weighed me (116,8 kilos), measured my height (1.72 m, so I have not shrunk yet) and measured my waist: 118 cm (Yikes :S). On to the computer where I had to fill out two questionnaires: one on my medical history and one on my 'physcological state of mind'.

Then I saw the dietitian: she told me that research showed that for certain people dieting does not work. My 'diet-past' shows that I am one of those people. My BMI is just below 40 (39,49), but she said they would round that up to 40. We discussed my food diary. The dietitian was very friendly and within a very short time was able to determine that I'm a perfectionist and too hard on myself. Basically she told me that the operatie was my last resort. 

Next I had my meeting with the movement expert, again a very friendly lady: we talked about exercise and then I had to bike for 6 minutes: no sweat! The cycling was quite easy, I could have gone on for another 6 minutes if she had asked me to.

A meeting with the psychologist followed, this was the meeting I was dreading the most. She asked me what prompted me eating and I told her about several issues I had experienced when I was still quite young. She asked I had talked about these issues with a psychologist or psychiatrist in the past, which I haven't. She almost made me feel like I should have been very depressed. This meeting made me feel a bit awkward and insecure.

Last but not least was my meating with the p.g, probably the easiest of all. We talked about my medical past, she listened to my chest and measured my blood pressure: 105/80.

Now the waiting starts.... During the Orientation Meeting in Velp we were told that we would get the results of the Multidisciplinary Screening within 3 to 7 weeks, in Hilversum the dietitian mentioned 3 to 4 weeks. Confusion!!! So I called Velp yesterday and was told that it would take at least (!?!?!) 7 weeks and that once the results were in, they would send me a letter. If results are negative I have to call my p.g. to hear why. If they are positive, it will contain the date for my Post Operative Screening and during this screening I would be told what surgery I would undergo.

The screening has only happened one week ago and I'm becoming more nervous and insecure by the minute. I 'm becoming more and more doubtful on whether or not I'll get a positive reaction. And the longer I think about it, the more ridiciulous it feels to me that I have to wait so long for one person to make up his mind about a possible surgery for me.

Preparation for the multidisciplinary screening

Two more nights before my multidisciplinary screening at the NOK in Hilversum. I received a confirmation on 9 October, saying they invited e for the screening on Monday 15 October 2012 at 9.00 am in Hilversum.

In approximately four hours I will talk to several disciplines (care co-ordinator, p.g., dietitian, psychologist and movement expert). Objective of the screening to determine which treatment would be most effective for me by means of analysis, questionnaires and personal conversations. All conversations will be in private. After the screening the NOK will write up a letter of recommendation.

I was adviced to bring:

1. a food journal provided to me by the NOK in which I had to write down everything I ate and drank for a week, the times at which I ate and drank, where and why I ate and drank and I much I exercised. If I don't bring my food journal, I risk my meeting being cancelled and being fined € 50,00. I started filling out the diary last Saturday, so I can check this off my list.

2. Two recent photos, I had new pictures taken yesterday and can check this off the list too.

3. A recent list of medication or my medication. Since already carry all my medicine aroud in my purse, this also gets checked off the list.

4. Documents that show my attempts to lose weight in the past. I only have a letter of referral from my pg to my dietitian about four years ago, so check!

I guess I'm ready for my screening as far as the checklist is concerned. Let's hope I sleep better tonight and tomorrow night than I did this week. I've slept a lot, but the quality of sleep has been poor due to my cold.

Feeling Exhausted

Exhausted is exactly how Friday's orientation meeting has made me feel. I felt emotionally drained and my back hurt the entire Saturday, Sunday I had a hormonal migraine that hapilly came back this morning and also I now have a sore throat and I'm coughing. My body is acting up!

Apparently the meeting has unearthed emotions that I wasn't fully aware off and magnified other feelings. Today I called the NOK and asked them if it was possible to reschedule the meeting to an earlier date. My mom will be on holiday on November 1st and I would really love to have her present at the multidisciplinary screening. Ofcourse I know I have to talk to the specialists on my own, but it's comforting to know that I'll be able to talk to her on the breaks between the meetings. Now my multidisciplinary meeting is planned for October 15th.