Obesity surgery

I have begun to research WLS. I am 28 yrs old and have 4 boys. I
currently weigh 280 and I am only 4.10. I have a few questions and I
hope someone here can help me. I also have BC/BS EPO any one have
experience with getting approval with this plan? I am in Garland, Tx any
doc recommendations?

1. I am currently nursing my 15 week old. I have plans to nurse for
2 yrs or so. Is it possible to nurse after surgery and you are no longer
on high doses of pain meds? Of course I would pump and dump until I was
not on pain meds.

2. How long are you on pain meds?

3. How long before you begin eating normal foods after surgery?

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Hello Lisa,

Thank you for your insight. I had met witht he psychologist last night and
it went really well. I had to answer 513 questions. I answered them to the
best of my ability and truthfully. I thought that I would never get to the
last question. I arrived at 4pm and did not leave until 6pm. But in the
end the Dr said that he would write my letter for my insurance company.

Now I’m just waiting to see the surgeon on the 13th to get a surgery date.

God Bless You,

Marilyn
Lexington, KY
Surgeon Consultation 12/13/02
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I have been swollen in my jaw area. Its the area where your ear and jaw connects
and goes down to your chin. Both sides are painful and a bit swollen. That was a
couple of days ago. Now my neck and throat hurts as well as does my underarms,
insides of my knees, and insides of ankles. They are so sore, like someone has
beaten them or something. I dont know whats going on, but i think i might have
caught something. I dont know. I am having my hubby take me to the dr today to
get checked out and get antibiotics.
It just worries me cause about 4 months ago i was diagnosed with Lymes Disease.
Well i was put on antibiotics for 2 weeks and then rechecked but the test came
back negative after that. I read somewhere where the test can show a fake
negative. But there are no specialists around where i live, so that is out of
the question. I am in an area where lymes is very rare. But somehow i had
contracted it in my earlier years.
Anyways, i had surgery on the 13th and i had thought by now that most of the
pain should have been gone, but i am just not coping too well. I cant hardly
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Hello All,

I have been excepted by my insurance and am supposed to have surgery
in January. I have an appt. on Dec. 13th to get my exact surgery
date. Everything is pretty much a go. I am very excited and somewhat
nervous, eventhough I know that this is the best decision I have
made and even my family Dr. agrees. I am just looking for any
friendly advice.. anything special I need to know or take to the
hospital or have at home when I get here. You know, the things they
sometimes forget to tell you.
Anyone from PA?
Thanks ahead of time for the responses and good luck to everyone out
there!!!

Hello Everyone. How many times can you ask someone if they want to
kill themselves or if they abuse alcohol or drugs? Well I found out
today, it is 513 times. I had to complete 513 questions and then
have a 30 minute conference with the MD. I arrived at 4pm and did
not leave until 6pm. Next is that I go and see the surgeon on
December 13th and then I’ll get a surgery date. I’m now getting
excited and can’t wait for this all to be over with.

God Bless You All,

Marilyn Sails
Lexington, KY
Surgery Consultation 12/13/02
Dr. Alex Gandsas

Hello to Everyone!

I’m three month post-op (Open RNY) and have lost over 50 pounds
already. I’m so excited and thrilled about it all. This holiday
season (Thanksgiving to Christmas) will be the first one in many,
many years that I am not fretting over everything and eating my way
through it all!

I would encourage anyone to have the surgery, and yes I didn’t tell
everyone I was having it and they still don’t know what I did, but I
am supported by my husband, children and close friends. But there
are some out there that I will never tell!

Ronda
San Diego, CA
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for your insight. I’m just down to my last evaluation and so
far everything has been going alright and I’m just being precautious.

Marilyn Sails
Lexington, Kentucky
Lap Surgery Consultation 12/13/02
Dr. Alex Gandsas

Hello everyone. I have my last evaluation today with the psych MD.
Does anyone have any suggestions to help me get through the 400 or
500 question evaluation. God Bless You All. Marilyn

Hello to all. I am starting down the path toward surgery, having read,
talked and researched for awhile. I have the support of my family, and am
pretty firmly convinced this is what I need to do. There is one thing that
is in the back of my mind that I fear regarding the surgery. I am sure this
is common, and maybe there is a practical answer. I fear not being able to
wipe myself. At ~ 400 +. it is difficult to do now. I am afraid that with
the pain of surgery, I will not be able to do it. I know this gets into a
very personal area, but are there any practical things to know and do?

Also, as a side note, one problem that I see over and over on this list, is
that people are replying and including all the past threads of e-mails with
their reply. The old e-mails should be deleted before sending. That way we
won’t have to read the same e-mails over and over and over again.

Danny Groveman
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Hey everyone! I’ve had the surgery on June 7th, of this year. In
the beginning, I’ve done SO well! Even before the surgery, I had the
opportunity to lose weight. The highest weight I’ve been was 550
lbs. I was hardly able to walk or move around at all.

I used to really use food for comfort. I had a big problem with
depression and boredom. I still am depressed every now and then. I
am seeing a psychologist and is into counseling.

I don’t know, it seems even after I had the surgery, I still can’t
get rid of this food addiction. Before the surgery, I’ve lost almost
200 lbs. I went from 550, down to 397. I went in for surgery at 397
lbs. I’m now down to 298.

I’m very good at keeping active and working out. I walk almost every
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